Crescent Nightmare
by Winged Ether
Summary: The armies of Crescent Moon and Nightmare, led by Cresselia and Darkrai, have been at war with each other for centuries. Now a prophecy dictates that a young Buizel must stop it, but can he accept his so-called "destiny?" OC's needed.
1. Introduction

_Hi there! This idea has been floating around for a while and we've finally decided to put it online! This story is going to be serious and at times dark, so there will be blood! And death! Lots of it!_

**You sound almost too happy about that. Also, we're accepting OC's for this story in order to make it work. If you find this interesting, be sure to submit one or two through PM or review.**

_Let's get started!_

**Crescent-Nightmare**

**Chapter 1: Introduction**

_Untold ages ago, an egg was born in the vast abyss of nothingness, and from this egg emerged the god of our world, Arceus._

_Using his powers of creation, Arceus filled the expanse with stars and planets, and created his first children, the Legendary Pokémon. Exhausted of his power, Arceus went into a deep sleep._

_The other Legendaries filled our world with life, and for several millenniums, our world flourished._

_Eventually though, two of the Legendaries got into conflict with each other, and it escalated to the point where the rest soon took sides. Thus began the War of Legends, in which our world was used as the battlefield._

_Our world was ravaged by this cataclysm, and the humans who ruled it at the time were driven to extinction, leaving only the Pokémon left._

_The war grew intense enough to awaken Arceus from his sleep, and he stepped in to put a stop to it. He cast a spell that prevented the Legendaries from even directly engaging in battle with each other. The war subsided and the world recovered._

_Two Legendaries, Darkrai and Cresselia, however, could not put aside their hatred for each other. They found a way around Arceus' law, though, by building up their own armies to clash in their stead._

_Thus Crescent Moon and Nightmare, light and dark, were formed, and the two sides fought for centuries, and still fight to this very day._

Below the text of the War of Legends was a smaller one, a prophecy that was given by Cresselia fourteen years ago.

_When pure blood has been spilt,_

_And light shines through the storm,_

_Aura will end our conflict at last…_

The young Buizel tore his eyes away from the writing on the cavern wall and focused on the ground. His mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. _"Aura will end our conflict…" Is that really me? They all say it is, but how? How can it be me?_

"There you are, Leon!" A voice snapped the Buizel, Leon, out of his thoughts. He turned and saw a Charmeleon at the entrance. "I should've known you'd be here."

Leon's face visibly brightened as he saw his best friend and partner. "Draik! You know me all too well."

"No kidding! We do this every day! You come here to mope, I find you, bring Mr. Sunshine back and we go on our way!" Draik teased as Leon walked over to him. "C'mon, Lysa and Murtag are waiting for us."

"Right." Leon nodded, and the two Pokémon left the cave in the mountainside. As they emerged, Leon turned to the right, looking at the huge castle that stood before them. The castle was rather old-fashioned, with stone walls and leafy vines draped over its surface, but nonetheless, it was the home of the Pokémon army of Crescent Moon, and was considered the safest place in the world.

"So what's your problem, buddy? You're always looking at that prophecy, what's wrong?" The Charmeleon asked him, stopping and turning to look at the Buizel.

Leon looked away and subconsciously touched a small white crystal embedded in his chest. Every Pokémon in Crescent Moon had one, as they were teleportation gems created from Cresselia's power to help them get from place to place. "I don't feel like talking about it."

Draik refused to back down at his friend's unsocial behavior. "You'll tell me right now. Does this have to do with you being the "aura" in the prophecy?"

Leon looked back at him. "Do you really think it's me?"

"I don't know any other Buizel that uses aura. Do you?" Draik asked, rolling his eyes.

"Just because my father was a Lucario doesn't mean-"

"HEY!" Leon was cut off as he heard a loud, high voice. He turned and saw a Clefairy running towards them, with a Marill behind her trying to keep up.

"Lysa!" Draik greeted, the conversation pushed aside for now.

Lysa smiled brightly at him. The Marill with her caught up too, panting heavily. "Lysa, stop going… ahead… like that."

"Murtag," Lysa sighed. "How do you expect us to become a three-star team if you run out of energy so quickly?"

"Speaking of three-star, how's your legend attack coming along?" Leon asked her.

"Oh, you mean Crush Claw?" Lysa asked. "It's fine. I'll be able to pull off a Beta soon enough."

"That's great." Leon smiled. In Crescent Moon and Nightmare, Pokémon were partnered in teams of two. The Pokémon in a team increased rank together, and said rank was described through stars, from one-star to five-star. Leon and Draik were partners at three-stars, while Lysa and Murtag were a two-star team.

Teams gained stars through their legend attacks. Every Pokémon alive had a completely unique legend attack, and only on a few occasions shared it with someone else. Legend attacks had three levels: alpha, beta, and omega. Most Pokémon don't make it past alpha, but those in Crescent Moon and Nightmare learned how and are ranked through them. If a team was one-star, they could only do alpha attacks, teams at three-stars could pull off beta, but only five-star teams could perform omega. Alpha level attacks were standard and normally, fairly weak attacks, beta level ones were stronger, and omegas were the most powerful, capable of decimating villages or small armies in a single shot.

"So, when's your little brother coming?" Draik asked Murtag.

"Oh, Merty? He's coming in two days. I'll get to show him around the castle." Murtag answered.

"Won't that be fun?" The Charmeleon smiled.

"Yes, but I hope he won't be caught up in what's coming." Lysa said. "I heard that Crescent Moon is arranging another assault on Nightmare, soon. It has something to go with how some of their members are attacking and killing innocents that have no business in our fight."

Draik snorted disdainfully. "Nightmare is low like that, Lysa. I wouldn't put anything past them. Right Leon?"

"Yeah, right." Leon answered quietly, looking away towards the forest that surrounded the castle and mountainside. Draik noticed, but chose not to say anything.

"Don't worry Lysa, we can handle anything Nightmare throws at us! We're the good guys, remember?" Murtag assured his partner.

The other three Pokémon continued talking happily with each other, but Leon continued to look towards the woods, imagining the castle on the other end of the forest that was so much like their own, but tainted with darkness.

**~Desol Village~**

The Pokémon of Desol went about their normal lives. The adults conversed and bought food, and the children ran around, playing with each other. As such, no one paid any attention to the two Pichus that had just entered the village.

The Pichus were twins, and looked near identical to each other, and both had a dark purple gem embedded in their chest. One, however, was male, while the other was female, and the only other difference between their appearances were the blood-red bandanas they wore tied around their ears. The boy wore his on his left ear and the girl had hers on the right one. Currently, the male Pichu was looking observantly around the village, while his sister was glancing around excitedly.

The boy caught sight of the group of playing kid Pokémon and pointed towards them. "Right, sister, do you see those Pokémon over there? They are our age, yet they are so different."

His sister, Right, looked where he was pointing. "They remind me of us when we were really little, wouldn't you agree, Left?"

Her brother, Left, nodded, then smiled. It wasn't a normal smile though, it was an unnerving smirk that was far too wide and revealed that the mind behind it wasn't exactly stable. "It doesn't matter, though. They all must fall to serve our purpose. We will kill them, and when Crescent Moon sends teams to see, we will kill them too."

"All to create tension and hatred between the two sides, brother?" Right asked.

"Of course." Left turned to his twin and grabbed her hands, as though to dance, and they pointed two of their joined hands towards the playing children. "Shall we make the blood flow?"

"Let's." The group of young Pokémon did not suspect anything; they were all close together now. Such easy targets…

The twins charged their electricity, and then released it in a large attack. "Thunder Arrow Beta!"

**~OC Template~**

Name: _(Self-explanatory, pick a name, you don't need a last name)_

Species: _(Pokémon species, no legendaries and your evolutionary level should be fitting of your rank)_

Gender: _(Male, Female, or Genderless)_

Alliance: _(Crescent Moon or Nightmare)_

Rank: _(Two-stars to five-stars. In order to have a bigger role, the characters should be around the three-star rank, and we can fit in more three-stars than five-stars, though good ones are always welcome)_

Legend Attack: _(The name and a brief description of the attack. Names usually follow the pattern of "element related word-attack appearance word" or vice versa)_

Partnered with: _(All Pokémon are in teams of two. Create two if you want them partnered together, or specify who you want. If you don't, we will pick)_

History/Personality: _(How they came to join whichever side they chose and their personality. The more detailed, the better!)_

Thoughts on main characters: _(View on Leon, Draik, Right and Left)_

Other: _(Appearances, special abilities, etc.)_

**~Examples~**

Name: Leon

Species: Buizel

Gender: Male

Alliance: Crescent Moon

Rank: Three-Star

Legend Attack: Water Aura (A blast of aura-infused water)

Partnered with: Draik

History/Personality: When Leon was born, Cresselia gave a prophecy that foretold the end of the war between Crescent Moon and Nightmare. Since he exhibited the ability to use aura and aura attacks, he was seen as the "aura" from the prophecy. All his life, he was trained for his "destiny" and treated differently from everyone else, inciting mixed reactions from other Pokémon. He has a small circle of friends that like him for himself, not his status. Leon is very modest and at times, insecure. He is well-trained in battle and easily one of the best of his level, but he lacks self-esteem and the ability to connect with Pokémon outside of his group. Nonetheless, he has a strong sense of morality and believes in redemption. He is the only one who doesn't believe that he is part of the prophecy.

Thoughts on Draik: "He's my best friend; I can always count on him. Though he gets in my business way too often…"

Thoughts on Right and Left: "They're creepy, and there's something seriously wrong with them. Is this really what Nightmare is like?"

Other: The small fins on his arms are white, and he can use aura.

Name: Draik

Species: Charmeleon

Gender: Male

Alliance: Crescent Moon

Rank: Three-Star

Legend Attack: Fire Storm (Shoots a tornado of fire from his mouth and tail)

Partnered with: Leon

History/Personality: Draik has been best friends with Leon for as long as he could remember. When Leon was old enough to join Crescent Moon, Draik came and partnered with him. He is much more carefree and light-hearted in comparison, but he has an equally strong moral mindset. He believes Nightmare is pure evil and is naturally suspicious of those he thinks are strange or dangerous, but he can easily become sympathetic for others. He also believes in redemption, and secretly, perhaps even more so than Leon. He is just as good a fighter as his partner, and is lethal in combat. He never backs down from a fight.

Thoughts on Leon: "He really needs to get some confidence. I think it'd be cool to be part of a prophecy. Oh well, I'll just have to help him, I guess."

Thoughts on Right and Left: "There's no way they're naturally like this. It's horrible. If I find out who made them this way…"

Other: His tail flame is a golden color.

Name: Right and Left

Species: Pichus

Gender: Female (Right) and Male (Left)

Alliance: Nightmare

Rank: Three-Star

Legend Attack: Thunder Arrow (A bolt of electricity shaped like an arrow)

Partnered with: Each other

History/Personality: Abandoned a few days after their birth, the twins were discovered by Pokémon from Nightmare and raised by some of them with kindness for the first two years of their lives. These happy years were shattered when they were taken by more ruthless, bloodthirsty members to be molded into fighters. They were beaten, traumatized, and forced to kill until they finally snapped. The two killed the Pokémon who trained them, and their attitudes and mannerisms frightened those around them. While they are both psychotic and dangerous, Left is more analytical and Right is more emotional. They enjoy nothing more than causing pain, both physically and mentally. Though a good portion of their sanity has long since left them, they seem to have their own ulterior motives for their seemingly unpredictable actions.

Thoughts on Leon: "You're kind of nice, but I would love to hear how you sound when screaming!" (Right) "A water-type? I wonder how bloody your body would be after a Thunder Arrow?" (Left)

Thoughts on Draik: "Heheh, you are… nice. No one has been nice to us in such a long while…" (Right) "You would treat us differently? Why? Why, when you know what we could do to you?" (Left)

Thoughts on each other: "My big brother and playmate. We are always together, never apart." (Right) "My little sister and playmate. I couldn't live without her." (Left)

Other: Right wears a red bandana on her right ear, while Left wears a red bandana on his left ear.


	2. The Nightmare Twins

_The next chapter is here! Hooray! Author's Note is at the bottom as well. There isn't too much to say here, except that this chapter can be kind of bloody. We don't think it's too bad though._

**We also need the stupid disclaimer. We forgot it last time.**

**Disclaimer: Winged Ether does not own Pokémon or the OC's in this chapter that other people submitted. We only own our OC's as well as Crescent Moon and Nightmare.**

**Chapter 2: The Nightmare Twins**

**~Desol Village~**

Left stood in a pool of blood, staring absentmindedly at the carnage before him while his sister jumped around in the nearby puddles. Desol was in absolute ruins: the wooden houses, some of which were still on fire, were merely crumbled piles of wood planks, and all the Pokémon of the small village lay dead in their own blood (those who hadn't been instantly vaporized by the electricity, anyway). The entire attack on the relatively small town had taken about five minutes to complete.

"They were so weak, weren't they, Right?" Left asked his sister, who stopped and nodded.

"Yes, but at least they were loud. It is always so much better when they are screaming." She said.

"Indeed." Left agreed, and walked over to the bodies of a Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan. The Pichu took note of small white jewels on their chests, proof that they were members of Crescent Moon. He wasn't sure if they were a three-star or four-star rank, but nonetheless, they were both shot down as easily as the rest of the village. "These two, they underestimated us."

"Of course, everyone does. After all, they are unaware of our training." Right told him.

Left had a cruel smirk on his face again. "Some of the best in Nightmare trained us, but even our teachers fell without much trouble. It was… disappointing."

"We will have more chances to play, brother." Right assured her twin.

"I suppose we will." Left nodded, tracing a paw through the blood of the Hitmonlee.

**~Crescent Moon Castle~**

For Leon and his friends, the day came and went without incident. The next was the same, much to Draik's annoyance, as he hated days where they had no missions and all they could do was train and be with their friends. The third day, however, would give him exactly what he asked for, along with an unexpected surprise.

Leon and Draik sat down with a few of their friends in a circle outside the castle, eating their helping of berries and soup for lunch. Everyone currently there at the moment, excluding Lysa and Murtag, were all in three-star teams. Two of them were a Chikorita with a blue leaf and a pure black Misdreavus with the white teleportation gem as a pearl on her necklace. The last two Pokémon in the group were a Treecko with a scar over his right eye, and a shiny male Kirlia with longer bangs.

"So Marie, what's the news today? Heard anything interesting?" Draik asked the Chikorita.

"Actually, yes I have." The Chikorita, Marie, nodded and smiled.

"Tell us, then! What is it?" The Kirlia asked her excitedly.

"Ruru, show some patience." The Treecko growled at him.

"Aww, lighten up, Trey. I'm just curious." Ruru responded. Trey just snorted irritably.

Marie's smile faltered. "Um, why don't you tell them, Mav?" She asked the Misdreavus floating next to her.

"Alright." Mav said, looking somewhat solemn.

"What's wrong? Did something happen?" Leon asked, looking worried.

"Well, nothing concerning us, but do you know about Desol Village?" Mav asked.

"Desol is that place several miles north from here, outside the forest, isn't it?" Draik asked.

The Misdreavus nodded. "Yes, but apparently, two days ago, the entire village was completely slaughtered."

Horror was slowly etched into the faces of the entire group. "It can't be… the whole village?" Lysa gasped.

"Wait, two days ago and you just found out?" Trey asked in disbelief.

"The higher ranked teams that knew kept it a pretty good secret. Of course, nothing like that can happen without Mav knowing about it sooner or later." Marie answered.

"Desol was also a rather uninteresting spot. Small population, still kind of primitive in its lifestyle, and kind of out of the way. You'd have to go looking for it to find it, but there isn't really anything there, so I've got no idea why it would be attacked." Mav continued.

"There was a four-star team there at the time, though, just like in every other town. Of course, they never came back." Marie said. "The higher ranks think that it's Nightmare."

Draik rolled his eyes. "Figures. We should go teach those murderers a lesson, shouldn't we Leon?"

"W-What!" Leon cried, shocked. "We can't! We don't know anything about them!"

"Yeah, what are you thinking?" Mav asked. "Whoever they are, they took down an entire village and a four-star team! What makes you think you have a chance?"

"You guys can't go. You could get killed, and then what? Leon's the one who's supposed to end all of this!" Marie yelled.

Leon sudden grew depressed at the mention of the prophecy. "I-I need some time to think." He got up and pressed his teleportation gem, opening up a white portal that he entered through. It closed right behind him.

"Here we go again. I'll go talk some sense into him, I know where he's going." Draik said.

"I can help you." Ruru offered.

"No, it's easier if I do this by myself. Wait here." Draik activated his own portal and left through that. He reappeared at the cave that led to the prophecy's wall, and sure enough, his friend was inside, reading the prophecy over and over to himself quietly.

"Okay seriously Leon, this game of hide-and-seek isn't fun anymore. You're too predictable." The Charmeleon grumbled.

"I hate this." Leon sighed. "I hate this war, and I hate this prophecy. I don't want to be the one with the responsibility of stopping Nightmare, but if they're killing innocent Pokémon, then do I have a choice?"

"Look Leon, the two of us joined Crescent Moon because we wanted to help stop Nightmare. Didn't we both want a part in ending this war?" Draik asked.

"I guess, but…" Leon started.

"No buts." Draik interrupted. "It's not like it's just you. You have me, Lysa, Murtag, Marie, Mav, Trey, Ruru, and basically all of Crescent Moon. You're not alone."

"I'm not alone…" Leon thought about that for a moment, before a smile slowly spread across his face. "Yeah, you're right. I'm not alone." He turned to his best friend. "Thanks, Draik."

"No problem. Now come on, let's go teach those murderers a lesson." Draik said, raising his claws, eager for a fight.

"What? You still want to go through with that?" Leon yelled.

"Of course! We're the best of the three-star teams; we can take care of ourselves!" Seeing Leon's uncertain look, Draik continued. "Alright, tell you what? We'll just go in and investigate really quickly. If we see anything dangerous, we'll teleport right back here. Okay?"

Leon would have objected further if he didn't already know that the Charmeleon was never going to let this go. "…Fine, but just a quick look, okay? I don't want us to get caught. Who knows how much trouble we could get in?"

"Deal!" Draik high-fived Leon and opened up another portal. The entered through it and reappeared on the outskirts of Desol Village. Walking further in, the village was completely empty of all life, and Leon was starting to feel ill at the large amounts of blood.

"Oh, wow…" Draik began.

"This is horrible. Maybe we should go back." Leon said.

Draik sent him a glare. "Don't be such a girl. We haven't even gotten into the main part of the village yet." He started walking forward into the ruined town.

Leon started to follow, but stopped suddenly when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw a dark figure preparing a move to attack Draik.

"DRAIK LOOK OUT!" Leon shouted, running towards him. The Charmeleon's reflexes kicked in at the warning, and he jumped to the side just as a blast of water was shot at where he had been standing a moment before.

A different blast, this one of fire, was shot from the opposite direction towards Leon, who ducked as the attack flew right over him. Draik and Leon ran to stand close together as a Magmar and Golduck emerged from behind one of the collapsed houses. While the Charmeleon was ready to fight, Leon stopped and smiled as he recognized the Pokémon.

"Swift! Olin! It's us!" Leon shouted at the two, who halted as well.

"Leon and Draik? What are you two doing here?" The Golduck, Swift, asked.

"You're not part of this mission, are you? They didn't say we were receiving help." The Magmar, Olin, said.

"Um, well… no. We're not." Draik sighed. Swift and Olin were a new five-star team, having just obtained the rank a few months ago. The Charmeleon berated himself for not considering the possibility that Crescent Moon had already sent a team to investigate.

"Hmm, so you left without permission." Swift concluded. He sighed in exasperation. "What were you thinking? This could be dangerous. It's not a mission for three-star teams."

"Hey! We can take care of ourselves!" Draik shouted.

"You two could get in serious trouble for this." Olin said. "If you leave now, we won't tell and you can avoid punishment."

Leon saw that Draik wasn't going to back down. As his partner, Leon couldn't leave him, so he stayed where he was as well, though he looked away from the two higher ranks, his face burning with embarrassment.

Olin just shook his head. "You're so headstrong. It will get you killed someday. Fine, but stay close to us, this area is still dangerous."

Leon and Draik nodded and followed them closely into Desol's ruins. It was eerily silent, but as they entered the main crossroads of the village, Leon stopped walking.

Draik noticed this and asked, "Something wrong?"

"I hear something. It sounds like… crying." Leon turned to his right, towards another destroyed house several yards away. The other three Pokémon heard the sound as well, a harsh contrast to the silence that seemed to have just appeared. Olin and Swift ran towards the house and started lifting up the collapsed wooden planks. As Leon and Draik caught up, the five-star team had progressed enough to see the source of the noise.

Among the ruins were two Pichus, huddled closely together, covered in blood and looking worse for wear. The blood was thick enough that their fur appeared to be pure crimson, so no one noticed the bandanas they had around their ears, and their teleportation gems were hidden as well. The two looked up at the four Crescent Moon members and seemed to shrink in fear.

Swift felt immediate sympathy for them. "It's okay. We're not here to hurt you."

"Where's mommy?" One of them, a girl, asked.

"And daddy?" The other, a boy, asked.

Olin looked back at Leon and Draik. "They're covered in blood and they look hurt. Their parents are probably dead." He whispered.

"That's sad. They're so young too. They can't be much older than nine." Draik said, casting a sympathetic glance at the orphans.

"Mommy and daddy-" The girl began.

"-are dead?" The boy finished. Olin cursed mentally for forgetting that Pichus had excellent hearing.

"We're sorry, but that's probably what happened. Stay close to us, we'll keep you safe. We're going to investigate this just a bit further." Swift said. The twins smiled and crawled out of their hiding spot.

Leon quickly turned away so that he wouldn't have to look at their blood-drenched fur, though Draik noticed his behavior. "You know, you're acting really nervous. What's the deal, you've seen blood before."

"Not like this." Leon groaned, then walked on with everyone else to continue searching. The twins kept towards the back of the group.

Suddenly, Draik spotted something familiar. "Guys, look!" He ran over to the bodies of the Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan. Leon ran after him and the two knelt by the fallen Pokémon. "I guess Marie was right. They did kill the team that was here."

"Yeah, but who's 'they'?" The Buizel asked. While Leon and Draik observed the bodies and Swift and Olin watched them, the twins took advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention to them. They dropped their "scared child" facade and smiled evilly as they formed their fingers into the shape of a gun. They pointed them at the two three-stars, who were too preoccupied to notice.

"Good-bye. Thunder Arrow Alpha." They whispered, and two condensed bolts of lightning in the shape of arrows shot out of their bodies. Swift and Olin had managed to just see the Pichus finish charging and fire, and they rushed to save the intended targets.

For Leon and Draik, it all happened in an instant. One moment they were mourning the dead team before them, and the next they were forcefully shoved in opposite directions by their companions. Terrible screams pierced the air, and the two watched, horrified, as the electric arrows shot straight through Swift and Olin's hearts. The two Pokémon collapsed to the ground with small holes in their chests, bleeding rapidly.

The Buizel and Charmeleon were no strangers to death; it had happened many times during their lives, including to their own parents, but this was the first time they had ever seen Pokémon die right in front of them. Leon was completely frozen with shock, while Draik turned on the Pichus.

"You killed them! How-" He began.

"The element of surprise." The boy interrupted. "If used well, it can kill even the strongest Pokémon."

"That, and our alpha-level legend attack is more effective at quick kills than our beta-level." The girl added.

"What? How is that possible?" Draik asked.

"It all depends upon the type of attack. It has to be special to kill at alpha-level." The female Pichu vaguely explained. "It was so very helpful in decimating this village."

"So you're the ones who did all this!" Draik yelled. "You're with Nightmare!" The twins' twisted smiles were enough to confirm the statement.

"Perhaps you should have realized that sooner. You should have checked our actual conditions or looked for our teleportation gems." Left said.

Right giggled quietly and moved closer to her brother, licking the blood off of his ear. "It would have helped, because if you cannot tell, none of this blood is ours."

While Draik looked disgusted at this statement, Leon seemed to just realize something else. "Wait a minute, twin Pichus from Nightmare. I've heard of you, you're Right and Left!"

"Are we that well known? How flattering." Left grinned.

"It does not matter though. You two will be dead soon anyway." Right said. "Let's kill them, brother."

"My pleasure, sister." The twins sprang from their spots and jumped to either side of Leon and Draik, who were now facing them back-to-back. They opened their mouths and fired two Charge Beams at them, which the Crescent Moon team quickly leaped to the sides to avoid. However, the two attacks then collided head-on with each other, creating an explosion that knocked their targets away.

Draik was the first to recover, and his claws glowed silver as he ran at Left. He swiped at him with Metal Claw, but the Pichu effortlessly jumped out of the way. He retaliated with Quick Attack, shooting around Draik in a circle before striking him in the back.

Leon, being a water-type, tried to keep his distance from the other Pichu. He quickly produced an Aura Sphere in his paws, which he shot at Right. Like her twin, she just dodged the attack, but she was now looking at him with renewed interest.

"Oh, an aura attack. You're the chosen one from the prophecy!" She said.

"How did you know about that?" Leon demanded, getting angry now that they were on that subject.

"Cresselia wasn't the only one to receive it. Arceus himself sent that message to both her and Darkrai." Right explained. She rolled out of the way of another Aura Sphere, then launched her own Thunderbolt, which Leon narrowly avoided. He rejoined with Draik and they faced their opponents.

"Hmm, they're hard to hit." Draik said.

"We'll need to step it up!" Leon commanded.

The Charmeleon nodded. "Okay! Fire Storm Alpha!" He shot a tornado of orange and gold flame from his mouth and tail at Left.

"Water Aura Alpha!" Leon shot a glowing, aura-infused blast of water at Right.

Once again, though, both twins avoided the attacks, albeit barely, landing next to each other after dodging. "Right, they almost managed to hit us." Left turned to her. "They are not that bad of fighters."

"You are correct. This could be fun!" Right squealed. "What rank are you?" She called to her opponents.

"Three-star, though we'll be four-star soon enough." Draik couldn't help boasting. "And you?"

"The same. The only difference is we are much stronger than any Pokémon of our rank. We chose to stay at our current position instead of advancing." Right said.

"Perhaps we should stop playing around, sister?" Left asked.

"That's not much fun, but fine." The twins moved again, this time so quickly that Leon and Draik didn't have time to react before they were slammed right in their stomachs.

"Uh, they were holding back!" Draik winced as he looked at the large bruise where he was hit.

"Not good. I'm going to use my sight, okay? Let's try that plan!" Leon closed his eyes and tuned into his aura sight. Seeing a red blur of aura shooting toward him, he opened his eyes and pointed forward. "Draik, now!"

Draik turned and shot a Flamethrower right in front of Leon, just far enough away so that he wouldn't get hurt. The attack forced Right to stop her movement and jump back away from the fire.

When it cleared, Leon was charging another attack. "Water Aura Beta!" He shot a much bigger version of his legend attack at the Pichu, who made no effort to avoid it. No one noticed the smirk on her face before the water slammed into her and blasted her through the last few standing boards of what had once been a shop. She didn't come back out of the wreckage.

"Sister!" Left cried, but he had to immediately move back to dodge another Metal Claw.

"You're sister's out! It's just you now!" Draik yelled.

Left just shook his head and grinned. "Hardly." He pressed the blood-covered jewel on his chest and opened up a black portal. "Do not worry. I will be back for her." He jumped through and the dimensional doorway disappeared instantly.

Draik stopped and glared at where the portal used to be. "Man, I hate that guy!"

"Hey Draik, come here." The Charmeleon turned to his partner, who was looking at the shop where Right had been knocked through. He ran over and saw the Pichu. She was unconscious, but still very much alive.

"We should take her back to the castle." Leon said.

"What? Why? We should kill her right here, and get revenge for Swift, Olin, and everyone else!" Draik yelled.

Leon cast a sad glance at the bodies of the Magmar and Golduck, but then turned back to the Pichu. "But she's just a kid. I'm sure there's a better way. We can just take her prisoner for now. Who knows, maybe we'll get some information from her."

Draik glared at his friend, but his gaze softened quickly. "Fine, after all, I dragged you into this mess."

"No, I came of my own free will." Leon reassured him. "But thanks for agreeing with me. You grab her."

"What? Why me?" Draik asked.

"Hello, she's covered in blood! It'll take forever to get out of my fur! You have scales, it'll come off easier." Leon explained.

Draik sighed. "You're a bigger girl than Ruru." Nonetheless, he picked up the unconscious Pichu, trying to ignore the moist feel of her crimson-stained fur.

"Hey!" Leon yelled, though he really didn't take any offense from it. He opened another white portal, and the two Pokémon stepped through it to return to Crescent Moon Castle.

**~Author's Note~**

_Um… Hooray! We finished the chapter! This one was mostly just to set the stage and get into the storyline. If you're OC didn't appear, it just means that we either finished the chapter before you reviewed, or we're saving them for later. You've still got a chance!_

**Thanks to **_Luminescents_** and **_Dementia Jackson_** for letting us use their OC's in this story and chapter. We hope we haven't butchered their personalities.**

_You'd tell us if we did, wouldn't you? Anyway, this chapter was somewhat bloody. But that's going to be normal during the twins' parts in this story, so get used to it. _

_Also, it's completely normal and kind of required for Pokémon to shout out their legend attack's name when they use it. Cheesy as it may be, it's necessary due to the different levels of strength._

**Okay, I think that's all. Please review. Really. We need the praise, constructive criticism, whatever; otherwise our stories will never get better. So review!**


	3. Unusual Punishment

_Thanks for all the reviews! They mean a lot to us! Okay, first of all, not sure if we'll be getting any more OC's, but if we do, no more eeveelutions. We'll use the ones we have already, but no more after this point. Also, we could use some three-star Nightmare Pokémon; otherwise we'll just make them up ourselves. We've also got enough Pokémon for Leon's circle of friends, so any more Crescent Moon Pokémon after this point won't be that close to him. You'll be seeing the rest of them this chapter._

**Um, I don't know what to say. Let's just do the disclaimer.**

**Disclaimer: Winged Ether does not own Pokémon or the OCs that other people have submitted. We only own our OCs, Crescent Moon, and Nightmare.**

**Chapter 3: Unusual Punishment**

**~Crescent Moon Castle~**

When Leon and Draik returned to the castle, they were standing in one of its many halls. Leon looked around nervously, but for now, the hallway was empty except for him, his friend, and their unconscious prisoner.

"Alright, I think we're near the exit to the training grounds. Let's try and get to the War Room, maybe Flare and Aurora will know what to do." Leon told Draik.

"Assuming Flare doesn't kill us for leaving without permission, getting a five-star team killed, and bringing a Nightmare Pokémon here first." The Charmeleon pointed out.

"Well if she does, it'll be mostly your fault!" Leon countered. "Now let's go, before-"

"Hey guys, what's going on?" A voice called out behind them. Leon resisted the urge to swear aloud as he turned and grinned widely to the two Pokémon that confronted them. The voice belonged to a three-star Shinx with a grey bandana around his neck. His partner was an Eevee that had a purple ribbon around her ear.

"Soru, Nina, hey guys." Leon said nervously to the Shinx and Eevee, respectively. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Just got back from training." Soru replied. "We saw Trey and Ruru, too. They said you left but didn't come back. Where'd you go?"

"Um…" Leon was saved from having to create a stupid excuse by Nina, who had taken notice of the Pokémon Draik carried and shrunk back in horror.

"Ahh! What happened? Who is that?" She shrieked.

Soru saw the bloody Pichu as well and grimaced. "Is she hurt?"

"No, not really." Draik said. "Have you two heard about Desol?"

"Oh, you mean that village that got destroyed a few days ago?" Nina asked, recovering from her shock. "Yeah, we heard. Is she a survivor?"

"No, she's… one of the culprits." Leon said the last part quietly, but the other team still caught it.

"What? That Pichu is one of the killers?" Soru asked in disbelief.

"How?" Nina gasped.

"That's not important right now. We were going to go to the War Room to find out what to do with her." Draik said. "You can come with us and find out. We're kind of in a hurry…"

"Oh, okay. We'll come, right Nina?" Soru asked his partner.

"Sure!" Nina nodded. The four Pokémon took off down the hall, not stopping for anything as they rushed towards the War Room.

**~Nightmare Castle~**

A five-star Flareon and Jolteon walked down one of the dimly lit halls of Nightmare Castle. Nightmare Castle, oddly enough, looked almost exactly identical, inside and out, to Crescent Moon Castle. The only big, noticeable differences were that Nightmare's exterior was black, as opposed to the white of Crescent Moon, and the vines covering it were a dead brown instead of a lively green.

"Jackie, it surprises me just how used we've grown to this place." The Flareon told his Jolteon partner. "If it weren't for our job, I could actually be comfortable here."

"Well Cole, we have technically lived here for several years, it's only natural that we get accustomed to Nightmare." Jackie replied. "Though to be honest, after living in Crescent Moon territory for so long, I don't know how the nightmares ever stopped bothering me that much."

"Yeah, though think about how we've changed since we first joined. No amount of contact with Crescent Moon will erase the things we've done in order to keep our cover." Cole whispered the last sentence to Jackie. Though they lived in Nightmare Castle and wore Darkrai's teleportation gems, the two were actually part of Crescent Moon. They were spies, remarkably adept at their job, as no one has any suspicions about them. They had checked to make sure the hall they were in was completely empty, so they felt safe enough to talk about it with each other.

Jackie cast a quick glance down both sides of the corridor, then smiled at Cole. "It's not safe to keep talking about this. Let's change the subject. What do you think of the two-stars and three-stars we help train?"

"They depress me. If Nightmare didn't keep twisting its younger members, they could all have been good kids." The Flareon sighed.

"They still can, you know. It's not too late, if we can end this war soon." The Jolteon consoled him.

"Not all of them. Remember the twins? Arceus, what was Nightmare thinking? They were only two years old when they started training them, now look! Idiots!" Cole seethed.

Jackie attempted to comfort her partner. "Even they have a chance. You'll see." She smiled brightly at him.

"Cole. Jackie." The two partners looked up and turned to see an Umbreon with amber eyes approaching them.

"Noctis." Cole said with a hint of surprise in his tone. Though Noctis was only a four-star, his power easily rivaled, if not exceeded, the Flareon's own. "Do you need something?"

Noctis looked past them, then quickly turned his gaze back to the two. "Have you seen the Pichu twins? They're missing. Again." The last word was said with a slight hint of exasperation.

"Right and Left? No, we haven't, not since two days ago." Jackie answered. "Are they needed?"

"No, but it preferable that we have a clear idea on where everyone is. Special care should be taken for those who are not exactly… stable." Noctis said. "If you haven't seen them, then I'll be on my way."

"You do not have to bother, Noctis. We are right here." Noctis turned around and saw Left standing behind him. Any evidence that the Pichu had been in a battle was gone. His fur was clean and smooth, and his bandana was tied nicely around his ear.

Noctis regarded him with slight confusion. Why use the "we" pronoun when only one of them was present? For that matter, where was his twin? They were always together. "Where's Right?"

Left shrugged nonchalantly. "Gone. She is gone for now. She will be back, though, soon enough." Left looked past Noctis and flashed a cute smile at Cole and Jackie. "I wish to speak to Noctis alone. Can you two leave?"

Cole frowned, annoyed that the Pichu was telling a higher rank what to do, but a disapproving glare from Jackie kept him from saying anything. "Fine." The two left, leaving the Umbreon and Pichu by themselves.

Noctis looked down at Left. "Well?"

"Tell me about the prophecy." Left said.

"Why? You know it already." The Umbreon replied.

"Yes, but don't you hold any worry at all? It foretells Nightmare's destruction, does it not?" Left asked.

Noctis gave him a cold glare. "I care little about the war itself. If it continues, then life goes on as usual. If it ends, then Pokémon stop sacrificing themselves for what it little more than a feud among Legendaries. Either way, it doesn't matter to me."

The Pichu tilted his head thoughtfully and smirked. "Yes, but you are still a part of Nightmare. How do you feel about its destruction, and the fact that we will be on the losing side?"

"The prophecy only foretold that aura will end the conflict. It did not specify which side would win or even if one side would win at all. Both armies could easily be destroyed in the end." Noctis informed him.

"Crescent Moon and Nightmare share this world, dividing it almost in half." Left's smirk grew into a wicked smile as he spoke. "We rule, we keep order. If both were to disappear, what would become of the world?"

Noctis had considered this question many times before. Many outcomes were possible. The various villages and cities could stay separate from each other, engaging only in trade for the most part. They could all be united under a wise and benevolent leader. Or the sudden absence of power could cause many Pokémon to fight for the ability to rule, and this battle for power could plunge the world into chaos. What would happen after the war was almost impossible to predict.

Noctis shook his head silently and looked down at the lone Pichu. "Only Arceus knows."

**~Crescent Moon Castle~**

The War Room was a large room where the strongest and smartest members of Crescent Moon discussed battle tactics and defense of their land from Nightmare. Aside from a few villages and the human city ruins, the world is divided between Crescent Moon and Nightmare territory, which makes it necessary to keep constant guard against invasions. Leon always thought that planning out the army's next move would be interesting, but at the moment, he would have given anything to be anywhere else.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" An angry Infernape screeched at Leon and Draik. Soru and Nina stood behind them, against the wall and out of the argument. Nina watched nervously as her friends got a very harsh lecture, while Soru kept his eye on Right. The Pichu had regained consciousness, though she was now tied up tightly by String Shot to limit her movement. She watched the scene before her with an amused expression, giggling quietly every so often.

"You idiots!" The Infernape continued. "You know you can't leave the castle grounds unless you're sent on a mission! Not only did you disobey that rule, but you went to a place that, thanks to all the gossipers here, you knew was still dangerous! You could've gotten killed!"

"Flare, you don't need to be so hard on them." A Togekiss, the Infernape's partner, told her.

"Yes Aurora, I do, and not only for leaving without permission." Flare looked back at Leon and Draik. "Where are Swift and Olin?"

Neither Pokémon responded, but they did grow solemn and stared uneasily down at the ground, which confirmed Flare's fears. "I see… I suppose I can assume the same for the other team already there. We'll retrieve their bodies later."

"We're really sorry. They tried to protect us. It's our fault." Leon apologized.

"No it's not, and they'll be treated as heroes for defending you." Aurora smiled comfortingly. "We still have other business, though." She lifted her right wing and pointed it towards Right, who perked up now that she was being involved.

"Yeah, that's Right. She and her brother are the murderers of Desol Village." Draik said.

"Yes, we know who she is. We have inside sources that tell us these things." Flare said.

"However, our sources also told us that Right and Left are a very powerful team. At the very least, they are much higher than your skill level." Aurora explained. "How did you manage to defeat them?"

"Strategy and luck, I guess." Draik shrugged.

"Left got away, though." Leon added.

"That brings us back to our current problem." Flare continued. "Had we known Right and Left were the culprits, we would have gone ourselves. Now, however, thanks to you two, we're stuck with a highly dangerous prisoner. This wouldn't be too bad under normal circumstances, but this Pichu is apparently very unpredictable. We don't know what she could do."

"Does she have any important information we can use?" Aurora asked.

"I don't know. Telek?" The Infernape turned to an Alakazam that was also in the room.

He shook his head. "Darkrai's gem blocks her mind. I can't use telepathy to look into it."

"Interrogation won't work either." Right spoke up. "I can't say a word without my brother here with me."

"Did we say you could talk? No, didn't think so." Flare snapped. "Now, we have two problems. We need to figure out what to do with our prisoner, and we need a punishment for you two… of course! We'll do that!"

"Do what?" Her partner asked her.

"Leon, Draik, your punishment is keeping watch over our 'guest'." Flare grinned. "You'll take her with you everywhere you go, and you'll keep her in public so that if she tries anything, everyone will know. Don't show her anything important, though, got it?"

"What? What kind of punishment is that?" Draik yelled.

"My kind, and unless you want more, I suggest you be quiet!" Flare yelled back.

"Don't worry; we'll help watch her too. When we're busy, though, most of that duty will be placed on you. We don't want any mishaps." Aurora assured.

Flare turned and glared back at Right. "And will someone clean her off? All that blood, really!" The Infernape left the room, along with her partner and all the higher ranks. Soon the only ones left were Leon, Draik, Right, Soru, and Nina.

Draik grudgingly walked over to Right and helped the Pichu stand up, since she couldn't use her hands to do so. She took a look at her fur and smiled smugly. "You should have done this sooner. Now that the blood's dry, it'll take longer to remove."

"Can it." Draik hissed. "Leon use Water Gun to wash her off."

Leon frowned slightly, but didn't say anything and sprayed Right until the blood started loosening up and dripping onto the floor. When she was clean enough, they left the room, though they didn't bother to clean up the mess they had left behind.

While they were walking towards the main grounds surrounding the castle, Draik kept Right within arm's-reach of him. This didn't stop her from sending creepy smirks towards Nina and Soru, though Soru did position himself defensively between Right and Nina. He shot the Pichu a glare that clearly said 'stay away from us.'

Right was not discouraged; on the contrary, she found it quite amusing. "My brother and I receive worst glares than that from other Nightmare members. Your attempt at threatening me is… funny."

"It's not an attempt. If you try anything-" Soru began, but Draik cut him off.

"No fighting. Like it or not, we're stuck with her." He snapped.

"Technically, we're not, just you." The Shinx pointed out.

"Then why are you still here?" Leon asked.

"You're our friends. We wouldn't leave you over something like this." Nina smiled warmly. Right gave her a somewhat confused stare, but turned away quickly before the Eevee could notice.

By now, they had exited the castle and were standing outside. Almost predictably, their friends immediately confronted them to find out what was going on.

"Where were you guys?" Mav shrieked. "You said you would be back soon, but you didn't show up!"

"Where did you go? You didn't go to Desol, did you?" Murtag asked.

"Um…" Leon couldn't find the words to answer the question.

"You did, didn't you?" Trey asked. Leon's guilty look said it all.

"Why don't you ever listen to us? Draik, you can't go off and do things like that." Lysa sighed.

"Hey, we know! It's not like we aren't paying! We're being punished for it!" Draik growled.

"Swift and Olin are dead because of us…" Leon sighed. Everyone's anger quickly subsided at this.

"What, really?" Ruru asked, not wanting to believe it.

"That's sad. They were always so nice to us." Marie said mournfully.

Trey was also saddened, but he then glared up at Draik. "Guilt can't be your only punishment. What else?"

"She is- Ah!" Draik gasped, looking at where Right used, to be, only to find her gone. "Uh, Arceus! Where is she?"

"Over there!" Nina pointed out, spotting the Pichu a few yards away, talking with an Ivysaur who looked very uncomfortable at the moment.

"She moves fast and really quietly for a tied-up Pichu." Soru couldn't help but feel a bit impressed at this.

While Draik growled curses under his breath as he went to retrieve their prisoner, Leon sighed and face-palmed. "We are the worst guards ever."

"You look familiar, but I have never seen you before in my life. Must be my imagination, heheheh!" Right laughed while the Ivysaur took a few steps backwards. Draik then approached them, grabbing Right's attention. "Oh, it is you. Draik, was it?"

"Right, get away from him, now!" Draik picked up Right by her binds and dropped her on the opposite side of him. "Sorry about her, Gerod, she's crazy." He told to Ivysaur.

"Sanity is an opinion…" The Pichu muttered, though she was ignored.

"It's no problem, really." Gerod said sheepishly and then ran off as fast as he could.

The rest of the group had all caught up to them by now. "Draik, Leon, who's this?" Marie asked.

Draik opened his mouth to respond but Right beat him to it. "I'm Right the Pichu, three-star member of Nightmare!"

"What? A Nightmare Pokémon?" Marie gasped, looking at Leon.

"Um, yeah. She and her brother killed everyone at Desol." Leon said.

"Wait, two Pichus killed an entire village?" Trey asked skeptically.

"And four Crescent Moon members." Right added, sounding way too proud of herself.

"Then what are you doing, bringing her here?" Murtag asked angrily. "She could hurt someone!" A little Azurill peeked out from behind Murtag and nodded quietly.

Right took notice of the Azurill and gave him a wide, unnerving smile. "Hello. You are cute. You are so round, and your skin looks so easily... puntured."

"Wha-? You stay away from Merty!" Murtag yelled, standing protectively in front of his younger brother.

"Oh, so Merty came over finally?" Leon asked him, having just noticed the Azurill.

"Yes, while you two were gone." Lysa answered.

"Oh…" Leon didn't bother saying anything else.

While watching them, Right heard a noise and turned around, only to be tackled to the ground by a Glaceon wearing a blue scarf around her neck. "AHH!"

"I finally found you guys, I've been looking everywhere!" The Glaceon said cheerfully to everyone and then looked down at the Pichu she had tackled. "Oh, you are so cute! Why are you tied up, though, is that really necessary?"

"Gracie-" Draik started, but was interrupted by a Furret with an orange ribbon tied to her neck that had just run up to them.

The Furret glared at the Glaceon, Gracie. "Gracie, what are you doing? Get off of her, now!"

"But Kita, she's so, so cute and huggable!" Gracie whined, pulling Right into a hug. The Pichu had wide eyes and a very confused look on her face, as though she had no idea how to handle this.

Kita sighed. "How we ever got to our four-star rank with your attention span I'll never know." Kita and Gracie were the only four-stars in Leon's group of friends, just like Lysa and Murtag were the only two-stars. Everyone else was part of a three-star team.

"Um, Gracie? You know that the Pichu you're holding is a mass-murderer, right?" Ruru said jokingly.

"How can you joke about something like that?" Trey growled at him.

Gracie looked shocked. "Really? But she's so young! How old are you?" She asked Right.

"Ten." She responded somewhat absentmindedly.

"What?" Gracie gasped. "Oh, you poor dear! Killing that much at a young age! That must have been horrible for you!" All the other Pokémon there sweat-dropped at her over-dramatic behavior.

"Actually, it was very enjoyable after the first year." Right said in the same tone, though thankfully, the Glaceon was too busy freaking out to hear her.

Kita finally decided to wretch Gracie away, causing her to drop the Pichu. "Alright, that's enough, we can find out more about that later. For now, you guys mind telling us what in Cresselia's name is going on?"

Draik sighed. "I hate explaining things over and over again. Leon, you do it."

"Okay." Leon agreed, and then started explaining. While Leon did that, Draik walked over to Right, who still had a blank look on her face.

"Um, are you okay?" The Charmeleon asked cautiously.

"What kind of emotion was that? That has never been directed at me before." She asked.

"It was just hyper affection. Gracie does that a lot." Draik waved it off.

"Hyper affection…" Right repeated, and Draik wondered if she actually thought that was a real emotion instead of a joke.

As he watched her try to figure that out, though, his mind thought of something else. _'__It's like she doesn't even know what kindness is. What happened to her?'_

**~Author's Note~**

_Um, woot! More OC's introduced! Did we get their personalities right? If we didn't, tell us now, that way we won't keep making that mistake in the future._

**Thanks to **_Hotrod198_**, **_Twinleaffan124_**, **_ShayminRules_**, **_The Violet Queen_**, **_Mr. Sambob_**, and **_Tendou Souji_** for all of the new OC's in this chapter. There are still others not yet introduced, but only because we couldn't find a way to fit them into this chapter.**

_Leave a review and tell us what you think! Bye!_


	4. Midnight Telling

_Guess what day it is! It's our birthday! And apparently, it's also Opposite Day, since we're giving you an update instead of you giving us presents! It's a long chapter too, aren't you lucky?_

**Ether, stop messing around. I have one thing to say. To those who we haven't asked yet, we'll be needing a list of moves that your OC's can use. Later on, they will start fighting, so we need some moves that you would like for them to be able to use. You can have more than four, but keep things reasonable.**

_By the way, the last parts of this chapter may have some creepy imagery. That depends on if you're a wimp or not, though, so this is just a heads-up._

_And on a different note: Crush Claw is a real move! This sucks! Now we have to make up a new legend attack for Lysa! Now, onto the disclaimer._

**Disclaimer: Winged Ether does not own Pok****émon or the OC's submitted by other people. Haven't we been over this three times already?**

**Chapter 4: Midnight Tellings**

**~Nightmare Castle~**

Cole and Jackie eventually made their way to the Nightmare training grounds. Currently, teams of three-stars were fighting against each other to test their abilities. Jackie looked around and spotted a black-furred Absol with blue eyes and an Arcanine with an orange wrist collar supervising a battle nearby. The two Pokémon were both five-stars, but they weren't partners; they worked alone.

"Talin! Frusia!" The Jolteon called, catching the attention of the two five-stars. She bounded towards them, with Cole following closely.

"How are you guys?" Cole asked. Talin, the Absol, just grunted and turned away, focusing on the battle. Frusia, on the other hand, greeted them warmly.

"Cole, Jackie. I'm glad you could come. If you're not too busy, would you like to help us train?" The Arcanine asked.

"No, we're not busy at all. In fact, we have some time to spare." Cole said.

"Who's battling right now?" Jackie asked, looking towards the four Pokémon fighting in one of the battling areas. One of the teams consisted of a Tsutarja and a Pikachu, both wearing pentagon necklaces. The other team was made up of a Quilava with purple flames and a Duskull with a green eye.

"Tsurugi and Levitas, and Wisp and Pharos." Talin answered, still focused on the match.

"Come watch. They're all doing very well." Frusia said. Cole and Jackie turned their attention to the two teams training roughly with each other.

"Infernal Lash Alpha!" The Quilava yelled, forming a thin, whip-like stream of fire in her paws and whipping it towards the Tsutarja. The grass-type simply leapt out to the way, formed an Energy Ball in his hands, and shot it towards her. The Duskull flew in front of her, formed a Shadow Ball, and launched it. The two attacks collided and exploded.

The Tsutarja then shot out a vine past the Duskull and wrapped it around the Quilava's body. He spun her around twice before slamming downwards, crashing her into the ground. When the vine retracted, the Pikachu launched a Wild Bolt at the fire-type, but she managed to recover and jump out of the way just in time. The Pikachu staggered a bit from the intensity of his attack, but quickly regained his balance.

"Levitas, use weaker moves." The Tsutarja told his partner. "At the very least, make sure you will hit the opponent when using a recoil move."

"I'm sorry, Tsurugi, I forgot." Levitas apologized. The minor distraction allowed the Quilava to hit him with her Infernal Lash Alpha, though, leaving behind a small burn. "Ah!"

Tsurugi glared at the Quilava. "Wisp…" He muttered, his tail beginning to glow green and extend into a sharper form. He ran forward with a Leaf Blade to slash her, when Wisp's partner, the Duskull, flew in front of her. He let out a Hypnosis attack on the Tsutarja.

Tsurugi recognized the attack right away, and stopped running. He put up a Safeguard just as the sound waves hit and they bounced harmlessly off the forcefield. He jumped back and fired another Energy Ball, only for it to blocked by Wisp's Flamethrower. She ran forward and slashed at Levitas, who ducked and lashed out with a Pursuit. The attack hit, though Wisp was hardly fazed as she used Body Slam, crashing down on top of the Pikachu.

Levitas let out a gasp, then used Thunderbolt to hurt the Quilava and force her off of him. He quickly moved around behind her and let out another Pursuit, which was blocked when Wisp turned and used Slash, her claws connecting with his fist.

Tsurugi swung his Leaf Blade at the Duskull, Pharos, who just faded out of sight, the attack missing. Using Agility, the Tsutarja sprinted forward, then looked back at the place where he had been standing, which was engulfed by a Night Shade. He drew out both vines and used Vine Whip, swinging them around until one made contact with the invisible Duskull. Pharos reappeared, and the apparition of a nail appeared in the air and stabbed through him. Tsurugi's body suddenly felt heavy and weak as Curse came into effect. Despite this, he managed to pick himself up and use Magical Leaf, striking the weakened Duskull.

"Transcendence Alpha!" Levitas cried out, slamming his hands on the ground and sending electric waves through it. Wisp began to float helplessly in the air as the gravity of the area was reversed. "Tsurugi!"

Tsurugi, who was still on the ground since Levitas had enough control over his legend attack, nodded his understanding. He jumped up and balanced on his hands, then started spinning his tail around.

"Dark Mixer Alpha!" He yelled, and a black tornado of leaves shot out towards the suspended Quilava. However, her partner, who was not affected by Transcendence, faded in front of her and took the attack. It hurt him much less than it would have if it hit his partner, and some of the attack was absorbed into his body. Tsurugi immediately stopped his attack once he noticed this.

The Tsutarja then fell down as the Curse took effect again. Levitas noticed this and rushed over to him. "Are you okay-AH!" He screamed as Wisp bit down on his tail and swung him away.

"Stay focused. Your luck will only take you so far." She said. Tsurugi's vine suddenly wrapped around her body again and hurled her in front of Levitas, who had recovered and used Wild Bolt again. She screamed loudly as the electricity coursed through her, and the Pikachu winced as he felt the recoil.

"Listen to your own advice." Tsurugi hissed, jumping out of the way of another of Pharos' Shadow Balls. He retaliated with an Energy Ball, and the two attacks met once more.

"They are very skilled." Cole commented as he watched the battle.

"It's not surprising," Talin said. "Tsurugi and Levitas were trained by Noctis."

"But Wisp and Pharos certainly aren't push-overs, either." Frusia praised.

Cole nodded, but in his mind, was thinking, _'Even their three-stars are really powerful. I hope Crescent Moon can keep up.'_

**~Crescent Moon Castle~**

As the day went on, the Pokémon of Crescent Moon became used to Right's presence. The only ones who actively talked to her, though, were Gracie, Ruru, and Draik; Draik because it was part of his punishment to watch her and because he was brave enough to, and Gracie and Ruru because they were just naturally social. Right actually seemed to like this. Once she became used to this friendly treatment, she talked with them normally and without any underlying insanity.

The other Pokémon had mixed reactions to her. Leon, Nina, Marie, and Mav treated her with caution, still worried that she would try something. Trey, Soru, and Kita were still suspicious of her, and, despite her behavior, didn't think that she actually thought of them as friends and liked them.

The ones who displayed the most hatred towards the Pichu were Lysa, Murtag, and Merty. Right was well aware of this; the two-star team didn't like her, and she didn't like them. While Gracie, Ruru, and Draik received friendly smiles, Lysa and Murtag were given glares and psychotic smirks. Her treatment of Merty was much different, though. She kept trying to get really close to him, much to Murtag's annoyance, and everything she said to him had to do with just how easy it would be to stab something through him.

Leon and Draik had a brief conversation about that as they watched the Pichu try to get near the Azurill, only for her to be pushed away by his brother. Despite having much of her movement limited, the silk bindings didn't seem to bother her at all.

"Do you think she's got a split personality?" Draik asked Leon.

The Buizel gave him an odd look. "What do you mean?"

"Compare the way she acts around Gracie and Ruru to how she is towards Merty." Draik said. "To them, she acts like they've been friends their whole lives, but around him, she sounds like she wants to skewer him."

Leon shrugged casually. "Gracie and Ruru are really nice to her. She's probably just happy to get treated that way by someone besides her brother."

"How do you explain Merty, then?" The Charmeleon asked.

"Merty is the only one out of all of us that shows that he's really scared of her." Leon answered. "Right's a killer; she thrives off fear. He probably encourages her and she gets a laugh out of it."

"Hmm, I suppose that makes sense." Draik agreed.

"Or, you know," Leon continued. "She could just have a crush on him and not know how to deal with it." The last part was said without any seriousness.

"Crush? Oh please, between what she's done and her attitude, the only Pokémon she's got a chance with is her brother." Draik scoffed.

Leon shuddered. "That's sick."

Draik shrugged. "Sick but true."

"Yes, but I think this is just how she reacts to these sorts of things. I'm pretty sure she doesn't have a split personality or anything of the sort." Leon concluded.

"Hey Right, what's it like in Nightmare?" Ruru was heard asking. Leon turned to Draik, who gave a silent nod, and the two walked closer, interested in hearing about their enemies.

"Oh, you want to know about Nightmare?" Right turned away from Merty and smiled brightly up at the Kirlia. "Okay. Would you like to know about the castle or the land?"

"Hm, castle. We already know plenty about Nightmare land from our geography lessons." Ruru answered.

"Pokémon who are born in Nightmare are raised in nurseries until they are two years of age." Right began. "After that, we are taken away by the trainer Pokémon in order to be become powerful as quickly as possible. Some get better trainers than others, and the harsher ones' methods are not always... orthodox."

"What do you mean by 'orthodox?'" Kita asked.

"Heh, I've said too much on the subject already. I will not elaborate." The Pichu said. "Pokémon from Crescent Moon experience dreams when they sleep, correct?"

"That's right! We have pleasant dreams because of Cresselia!" Gracie chirped.

"I have never had a dream. Nightmare Pokémon receive just that, nightmares. Every night, because of Darkrai." Right said.

"Wait, if you get nightmares every night, how do you manage to stay awake during the day?" Soru asked.

"This has been going on ever since Darkrai took control, centuries ago. We've adapted to having them without losing sleep over it. That way, we are not hindered during battling or training." Right explained.

"What kind of training do you do in Nightmare, anyway?" Draik asked.

Right smirked at the question. "I told you before that I would not say anything without my brother here with me. What I told you already is of no importance. I will say nothing more on the matter."

**~Nightmare Castle~**

In a small, unimportant corner of a room, far away from any other Pokémon, sat a two-star team consisting of a Natu and a Swablu. The Swablu was in the corner, shaking uncontrollably, while her partner watched her without displaying a hint of emotion.

"Nyx, please stop cowering in the corner. It's embarrassing." The Natu said in a calm voice.

"B-But Fate…" The Swablu, Nyx, stuttered, "T-That Tyranitar threatened to eat me."

"No, he did not." Fate said. "You misheard him."

"He tried to eat me." Nyx repeated.

"No, he did not." Fate also repeated, placing more emphasis on her words.

"Yes he did! And I killed him for it!" The Swablu screamed, suddenly sounding furious.

"Actually, you didn't. You hit a different Pokémon, remember? It's the reason we're hiding in this room in the first place." The Natu said.

"Really? Is that why that Ambipom was covered in berry juice?" Nyx asked, sounding innocent once more.

"Yes, that's why- I sense someone." Fate stopped, glancing around the room.

"…It looks like I have been discovered." A voice said, and a Pichu dropped down from the ceiling. "Oh well, I was planning to drop in soon anyway, heh."

"AHH!" Nyx screamed, cowering in the corner again. "Left! How did you get in here!"

"The air duct." Fate answered for him.

"Correct. I've been looking for you, Nyx. Look what I got." Left held out a gold anklet with small diamonds on it. Its golden surface was spotted with flecks of red.

"I-It looks like mine…" Nyx stammered, looking at the anklet around her left foot.

"Does it not? I thought of you when I pulled it off that Pokémon's foot." Left said.

"Don't you mean 'received…'" Nyx asked timidly.

"No, I mean 'pulled it off.' It was not difficult." Left clarified. His ears suddenly drooped and his expression became saddened. "Though, there is only one. I could keep it for myself, but then my sister would not have one. I could give it to her, but then I would not have one..."

"Where are you going with this?" Fate asked, uninterested.

"Can I have your anklet?" The Pichu asked, ignoring her. "I promise not to try and saw your foot off like last time."

"N-No!" Nyx yelled. "It's mine! Daddy gave it to me!"

Left didn't look pleased at the refusal. He would have said more, but Fate spoke up at him.

"Left, please, leave her alone. It's your fault she's like this anyway. You can at least let her keep the only reminder of a family she has left." The Natu reasoned.

Left gave her a look of absolute loathing. He hated Pokémon like her. He hated Pokémon who didn't show any emotion. He liked Pokémon who showed their feelings, like his sister. Pokémon who showed how they felt could show terror before he killed them. With Pokémon like Noctis, you could at least get them to display irritation or pride, but Fate never showed anything. He hated that so much.

Nonetheless, he forced a strained smile and said, "At least she still has a family out there. Now please, I need that anklet so-"

"GO AWAY! YOU'RE NOT TAKING IT!" Nyx screeched angrily. "Dark Shard Alpha!"

Nyx was engulfed in black energy for a moment before a black, glowing crystal shot out of her towards Left. The Pichu reacted quickly, rolling to the side to dodge it. He just barely managed to avoid getting skewered, but the shard had been fast enough to graze his right arm, cutting it and drawing blood.

Left looked down at his arm in shock. The cut wasn't that deep, and it was rather small and unnoticable. To the Pichu, however, it was very noticable, and in his mind, this meant others would notice it too. His cheeks crackled dangerously with electricity as he glared at the two-stars. "You'll regret ever surviving our attack on you three years ago." He growled directly at Nyx.

The Swablu had gone right back to cowering, but her partner remained unfazed. "Oh dear, look what you've done, Nyx." Without a moment's hesitation, the Natu used Teleport and got the two of them out right before a powerful Charge Beam hit the ground where they had been just been standing and completely vaporised it.

"…Missed." Left grunted.

**~Crescent Moon Castle~**

"Can I sleep with you tonight?" Right asked Leon and Draik. The day had past and night had come, and the two partners were getting ready to go to sleep when the Pichu asked her question.

"What? Why would we let you do that?" Draik asked.

Right shrugged as well as she could, given that she was still tied up. "I am not very dangerous at the moment. My movement is restricted, and I am still in the heart of Crescent Moon territory."

"Well, she is kind of right about that." Leon mused. "Even getting out of those binds would attract attention, and she can't teleport in the castle since Cresselia's power prevents that."

"Yeah, but, our room?" Draik asked. "I may talk with her but I don't trust her that much!"

"Well, then we can take turns watching her. One of us will sleep for a couple hours while the other keeps an eye on her, then we'll switch. That works, doesn't it? Besides, where else would she sleep where we can still see her?" Leon asked.

Draik rolled his eyes, though he realized he had a very good point. "You're too trusting, but I guess there's nothing wrong with your idea. Fine, we'll do it." Right seemed very happy that he agreed.

The team's room was semi-spacious, but rather empty. This was mostly due to the fact that they hardly spent any time in it aside from sleeping. It consisted of a leafy nest for Leon, and a raised stone platform for Draik, since he would just end up burning any sort of nest. The Charmeleon didn't mind, though; he was comfortable with pretty much anything. Leon took the first watch, though he didn't really have to do anything, since their "guest" fell asleep little more than ten minutes after entering. Nevertheless, he watched her for two hours, then woke up Draik for his turn.

The Charmeleon lay on his stone bed, his tail curled up in front of his face to provide light and help him stay awake. He looked over at the sleeping Pichu. Though they had made a makeshift nest for her, she ignored it, instead leaning up against the wall. He turned away, though almost immediately after, he heard a soft gasp. He whipped his head around and saw that Right was awake, breathing heavily.

He gave her a confused look. "Something wrong?"

The Pichu looked at him and smiled wearily. "I had a dream."

Draik remembered that she was from Nightmare, where they didn't have dreams. This must have been new to her. "What happened?"

"…It was about my brother and I. We were a year old, in the nursery, playing with the other children." Right recounted her dream. "We were… happy."

Draik couldn't help but feel a pang of pity as he realized that this was as much a memory as it was a dream. Looking at her now…

His thoughts were interrupted when Right picked herself up, using the wall for support, and walked over to him. She jumped up onto the rock and Draik shifted his body to put space between them. "Tell me about youself." She requested in a whisper.

Though confused by the demand, Draik answered, "There's not much to tell. My parents were killed in battle when I was young, so I was raised in the Crescent Moon nursery, with Leon. We started training when we were four, so I guess that's another difference between our sides."

Right nodded and looked at Leon, who was still sleeping soundly. Both she and Draik were whispering, so he hadn't heard them. "So… he is also an orphan?"

"Um, yeah… are you?" Draik asked.

Right turned back to him, her usual smirk on her face. "We were abandoned by our parents shortly after our birth with nothing, not even names. We do not even know which of us was born first. We would have died had Nightmare not discovered us."

She leaned towards Draik's face, though he moved away from her again. "Of all the things to be in Nightmare, an orphan is one of the worst. Without parents, there is no one in the castle that truly cares for you. The caretakers will raise you and treat you with kindness, but you are not their children, so they will never show you real love."

Draik frowned at her. Nightmare must be pretty cold-hearted to treat them that way. "Is that why you're the way you are now?" He ventured.

"Oh no, that was just the basis. It was our training that broke us." Right explained. "Shall I tell you about it?"

Draik gave her an odd look. "I thought you said you wouldn't say anything without your brother here?"

Mischief sparked in the Pichu's eyes as she replied cryptically, "My brother and I are always together… Now, would you like me to tell you my story?"

The evil, whispering tone she spoke in unnerved the Charmeleon greatly, but curiosity won in the end. "Tell me."

The Pichu smiled as she began to speak. "I mentioned before that some trainers are harsher than others, and that their methods are considered not completely acceptable. Brother and I, we were trained by the harshest of them. As soon as we were two years of age, the minimum age to begin training, they took us away. The caretakers did not spare a second glance."

She paused, and Draik stared levelly at her as he said, "Go on."

"They taught us to fight. We had to learn within the first few days, or their training would have killed us. It did not matter that physically we were still toddlers or that we were not used to such treatment; they trained us cruelly and without mercy." Right continued. "They taught us to kill. Within the first month, we had been forced into a fight against a prisoner captured from Crescent Moon. It was kill or be killed, so we killed. We had no choice. Was it back luck that our legend attack was so deadly, that even its alpha level could leave something a bloody mess? Is that why we were treated this way?"

Draik's cool gaze slowly turned to one of shock and pity as she told her story. To be forced to murder at such a young age was horrible. He didn't see how her tale could get worse, but it did.

"That was not what broke us, though. Many Pokémon received similar training, and even the killing was not abnormal. It was something else, a slow, horrific process that took two years to complete." She said.

The Charmeleon knew he shouldn't have asked, but he did. "What?"

The Pichu's smile turned sinister. "Imagine a room. A small room, around the size of this one right here. Imagine being trapped in that room, where the only opening is a door far too high above your head. The only ones in that room, besides you, are your partner and an enemy. It does not matter who it is; it could be Crescent Moon, it could be Nightmare, or it could be some random Pokémon who wandered too far into the forest. You have to kill it, though, because it is trying to kill you. Actually, even if it is not trying to kill you, even if it is frightened and helpless, you still have to kill it. As long as that Pokémon breathes, you are not leaving that room. Once it is dead, they send in a Pokémon to pick you up and carry you out."

She didn't give the Charmeleon a chance to speak as she continued. "Now, imagine that they never clean that room. The corpse remains, the blood remains. Then they put you back in there, the next day, with a new Pokémon, to repeat it all over again. Now remember, it is a small room, around the size of this one right here. It can only hold so much before it begins to fill. The bodies pile up, and there is so much blood pouring out of them. Eventually there is so much that it doesn't dry up; it pools, until it has filled every corner of that room that it can reach. It gets to the point where the only places you can stand are the bodies, and to move around, you have to jump; though many times, they are so close together you can walk on them. If you miss the jump or slip, you fall into the blood and start sinking as though it were water. But it is much harder to move through than water, because it is so much thicker. It is a struggle to pull yourself out, even with your partner helping you."

"Another thing." The Pichu went on. "If you speak out, if you hesitate, if you so much as cry, you are punished. They lock you in that room for the entire night. You have to sleep on the corpses so you do not drown. Sometimes you're unlucky enough to see one of them facing you. You have to stare at its terror-filled face, and you can feel it watching you all night. And this happens every day, every day for two years. Tell me, Draik, tell me truthfully. Could you go through this for two whole years, and not break? Could you really?"

Draik could only stare at her in horror. What she was telling him seemed almost unbelievable, and yet, he knew that it could easily be true.

Right took his silence as a yes. "Brother and I call it the Blood Room. It was traumatizing, so much so that only the knowledge that we had each other made us continue. Though, even that did not fully protect us. We would get injured, and many times we would become sick from the blood and decomposing bodies. The only reason they healed us was because we performed so well. They did not help us beyond that, though. We were ill so much that it felt as though if we were not in the Blood Room, we were in the infirmary… and nowhere else. I am not sure if it was a miracle or a misfortune that we survived…"

Draik finally found his voice, and stutteringly asked, "D-Did they do that to-"

"No, just us." Right answered, already knowing what he would say. "There was not enough room for other Pokémon. As far as we are aware, it was the only one of its kind. It was kept a secret; aside from a select few, many did not know of the Blood Room's existence. We were, for lack of a better word… experiments."

Draik's gaze towards her was filled with shock, horror, and even sympathy. The Pichu could see them all in the light given by Draik's tail, and she was genuinely confused, though she said nothing. "That's… horrible." The Charmeleon finally said. "Didn't Darkrai-"

"Darkrai?" Right asked incredulously. "Of course Darkrai knew! Who do you think built the Castle? He built the Blood Room, and even if this was not its original purpose, he did nothing to stop it."

She looked at Leon, who was unmoving and seemed to still be sleeping. Not very surprising; Crescent Moon Pokémon were known to sleep much more heavily than Nightmare Pokémon. She turned back to Draik, wearing a suddenly childish expression. "But then again, I am a Nightmare, so I cannot be trusted. Everything I told you could have very well been a lie..."

The Pichu jumped off the rock and went back to her spot by the wall. When Draik turned over on his bed, he heard her say one last word before she went back to sleep.

"…Maybe, heheheh."

Something told Draik that what she said hadn't been a lie. Even when he woke up Leon for his turn again, he had a hard time sleeping. For the first time in his life, he didn't dream.

**~Author's Note~**

_Compared to last chapter, which was rather light-hearted, here we have one that, thanks to Right, borders on nightmare fuel. Ladies and gentlemen, this is called mood whiplash!_

**I just hope we did a good job of it. If it doesn't turn out creepy at all…**

_You worry too much!_

**I could say the same about you at times…**

_Anyway, more OC's introduced! Hope we got them right and we hope this was a good chapter! Please let this be good, we're not very good judges of our own stories._

**Just drop us a review and tell us what you think. Bye!**


	5. Escape!

_Alright, next chapter, and it's a big one!_

**That's right, and this one will have a new thing in it. Throughout the chapter, you will see these labels (**_**~Memory~**_**). This is a little part that shows dialogue-only flashbacks from Right and Left. It's just a little insight on certain parts of their lives.**

_And now, I think we can do the disclaimer._

**Disclaimer: We do not own Pokémon or the OC's other people have submitted. This is already getting annoying. **

**Chapter 5: Escape!**

_**~Memory~**_

"_Right? Right, please stop crying. Stop crying."_

"_I-It hurts, L-Left. I'm b-bleeding, and it-it's mixing with the blood in here! I-I hate it here! W-Why do they put us in here?"_

"..._I'm bleeding too, just like you. They hurt us both. I don't know why they put us here, but they are just punishing us."_

"_F-For what?"_

"…_Weakness, crying. So please, stop crying."_

**~Nightmare Castle~**

Under the cover of night, a black portal appeared on the edge of the Nightmare Castle grounds. Left jumped out of the portal and gazed into the dark forest before him. It had been three days since his sister had been taken by Crescent Moon, and he was no longer going to wait to see her again. She was all he had left. Normally it would take hours at the least to locate Crescent Moon Castle, especially since it was somewhere in Evergrowth Forest, which was so large it covered a sixth of the planet's surface. However, he and his sister shared a special connection which would allow him to locate her with ease, so he would reach her soon enough.

The Pichu idly played around with the object in his paws. It was a small sphere, about the size of his hand. It had a red top, white bottom and a white button in its center. He then prepared to open another portal when a voice spoke up and stopped him.

"Where do you think you're going?" The voice, obviously female, asked.

Left turned around and saw a Vulpix standing behind him. She only had five tails, but a stump could be seen where the sixth one would normally be. He took care to keep the spherical object out of her sight. "This is the second time I have been discovered, I must be losing my touch." The Pichu grumbled, then smiled at the Vulpix. "Annara. Where is Damien?"

"Asleep. We may be partners but that doesn't been we have to always be together." Annara replied, eyeing him with suspicion. Damien was her partner, and a three-star Sneasel. "Now I'll ask again. Where are you going?"

Left smirked as he met her glare. "I am going to get my sister. We need each other, and I've left her alone for far too long already."

"Where is she?" Annara asked.

"Tch, there is no need to tell you. Rest assured, though, I will be back by sunrise. You won't tell where I am going, will you?" Left asked.

"Well I can't really tell if I don't know where you're going." Annara growled.

"Then this should not be hard for you. Little sister is in a far away and dangerous place, and I am bringing her back. That is all you need to know." He replied. "Please, do not tell anyone."

Annara glared at him for a few more seconds, then sighed. She turned around and began walking away. "Fine then, but I was never here. Besides, if you're caught, you'll be the one in trouble, not me."

"Of course. Thank you for your understanding." Left said, but the Vulpix ignored him. He frowned slightly, but shrugged and pressed on his teleportation gem. A portal opened and he entered, coming closer to Crescent Moon Castle.

_**~Memory~**_

"_Left, I don't feel good…"_

"_It's just another sickness. They'll have us healed soon enough… just like always."_

"_I'm tired of this… the sickness… the pain… I want to die."_

"_Don't say things like that. Everything will get better, just wait and see. You'll see, little sister."_

"_Little… sister?"_

"_Of course. I take care of you, so it only makes sense that I should be the older one, doesn't it?"_

"_Yes… little sister…"_

**~Crescent Moon Castle~**

Once again, it was Draik's turn to watch the female Pichu while his partner slept for a few hours. Right was asleep against the wall, and Draik was struggling to stay awake himself. His eyes drifted shut for a moment before he force them open again, groaning angrily.

"Ugh, why do I have to keep watch at this hour? She's asleep, and she hasn't tried anything for the past three days! Nothing's going to happen!" He grumbled to himself, then sighed. "Oh well. It'll be Leon's turn soon, and then I'll be able to get some sleep."

The Charmeleon sat on his stone bed, facing the closed door for a few minutes, before it suddenly began to slowly creak open. The door had no lock, but it was still weird for someone to be visiting at this time.

"What-?" Draik said in confusion as he got up to see whoever was out there. "Who could-"

He never got to finish the question, because as soon as he got near the door, a cloud of powder was blasted into his face.

"Ahh!" Draik grunted, stumbling back. "What… the… …" He slumped to the ground, fast asleep, as Sleep Powder took effect.

Right's sensitive ears picked up everything, and she was pulled out of her light sleep by the noise. She opened her eyes to see an unconscious Draik and the attacker shooting another Sleep Powder onto Leon just to be safe. She recognized the Pokémon right away; she had seen him around Crescent Moon Castle.

Picking herself up, she walked over to him. "Do not kill them. I will kill you if you do." Truthfully, the Pichu didn't see the Crescent Moon Pokémon as precious to her, but she was still thankful for their fair treatment. At the very least, if anyone was going to kill them, it would be her or her brother, not some stranger.

The Pokémon turned to face her. "I wasn't planning on it. They're not my targets."

Right cocked her head to the side. "It is you. I do not suppose you are just here to visit, are you?"

The Pokémon said nothing. After a few seconds of silence, he backed up slightly and launched a Razor Leaf at her. With her trained reflexes, Right bent backwards just enough so that the sharp projectile cut cleanly through her binds, missing her fur and skin. As the silk unwound and fell to the ground, Right rubbed her arms and stretched them out for the first time in days.

The Pichu smiled at her liberator. "Thank you. I must be going now, though. Big brother will be here soon, and I must be sure to meet him." She leapt over Draik to the door, but just before she left, the other Pokémon called out to her.

"Hold on." He said, grinning evilly. "You owe me. There's a Pokémon here that I've been sent to kill. Think you can do it for me?"

Right turned and smirked at him. "A name and description. That is all I need."

_**~Memory~**_

"_Right, I think I've figured out the reason the adults hurt us. It is because we act like children."_

"_Why do you think that?"_

"_Well, they hurt us when we cry or show weakness or defiance. Those are childish things. Maybe if we act more like adults, they will hurt us less…"_

"_But I don't want to be an adult!"_

"…_Then we'll just talk like adults. The way you talk seems to have a big impact on the way others see you. We can stay children, but we'll just speak more like adults. Is that okay, little sister?"_

"…_Yes, big brother…"_

**~Crescent Moon Castle~**

The bushes on the edge of the castle grounds rustled, and Left burst out of them into the moonlit clearing. He backed up slowly into the undergrowth so that the light did not illuminate his body as much. Cresselia's power in this area prevented him from teleporting here directly, so he had had to run through the forest for ten minutes in order to reach the castle.

Now, though, he was here. He closed his eyes and felt for his sister's presence. He soon located her; she was running through the halls of the castle, keeping out of sight of the guards, and heading somewhere away from him with a clear purpose in mind. Where was she going?

Oh well, he didn't have time to worry about that now. His twin was free, and he needed to complete his part of the plan quickly. Left scanned the sky and noticed a few bird Pokémon flying around, keeping watch for intruders. If he moved fast enough, he could cross the clearing without them noticing. With a straight-forward Quick Attack, he shot across and reached the castle before the guards could register his movement. Left moved through the shadows to a side that was out of their line of vision, then used Quick Attack again to shoot up the wall and through the closest window.

In the area where Left was, there were little Pokémon out patrolling the corridors. This made it easy for the Pichu to quietly move through the castle, passing rooms with sleeping Pokémon. One of the doors, however, was open, and as Left came to it, he stopped and peered inside.

He saw three Pokémon inside, one of which gave him a strange feeling of familiarity as he looked down on its sleeping form. He knew why he felt this way; Right knew this Pokémon, and she liked it greatly. It was perfect…

One of the Pokémon in the nearby nests stirred and sat up, interrupting the Pichu's thoughts. The Pokémon looked at him with a confused, dim stare, obviously still drowsy from having just woken up. "Right…?"

So this one knew his sister. It didn't matter, though; he couldn't let anyone know what was going on until he had finished. Left considered what to do about the Pokémon for a few short seconds before settling on an idea. He let out a small Thunder Wave, and the Pokémon's body seized up so quickly he couldn't move or cry out.

"Yes… and no." Left whispered. Taking the little ball in his hands, he tapped it on the sleeping Pokémon before him. The paralyzed one could only watch in horror as a red light enveloped his brother…

_**~Memory~**_

"_Have you ever seen one of these before, Right? They are simply fascinating!"_

"_What is it, Left?"_

"_I believe that during human times it was called a Pokéball. It is amazing; though the human race died out centuries ago, these machines remain working in perfect condition! No one knows how, but they do!"_

"_Aren't Pokéballs those human devices that used to enslave Pokémon? They are illegal, are they not?"_

"_Indeed, though the enslavement part only occurs if the master has a stronger will than the captured Pokémon. Though they may be illegal, imagine what we could do with these! The ability to keep another Pokémon close to us forever, imagine it, sister!"_

"_It sounds like fun, brother… but what of the risks?"_

"_Simple. We will never let them catch us…"_

**~Crescent Moon Castle~**

Several minutes after he had been knocked out, Draik wearily opened his eyes and picked himself off the ground. Shaking the sleep away, he looked around the room. His mysterious attacker was gone, and even worse, so was Right. He rushed over to Leon, who was still out cold.

"Leon! Leon, wake up!" Draik half-yelled, half-whispered, shaking his partner. The Buizel slowly began to stir and eventually sat up.

"Ugh… what time is it?" Leon asked groggily.

"No time to think about that! Right's gone!" Draik hissed.

"WHAT?" Leon yelled, jumping to his feet.

"Quiet!" Draik whispered as he stood up with him. "If anyone finds out, we're dead! Let's just go find her, quickly!"

"Okay." Leon nodded, and the two Pokémon ran out of the room and down their hall.

"Leon, use your aura sight. Can you locate her?" Draik asked.

Leon nodded and closed his eyes, stopping momentarily. "I see an aura in the halls that lead out to one of those raised bridges connecting the castle towers; it's her. There's another one too. Right's aura is increasing in power… the other aura is dimming… she's killing him!" Leon screamed, opening his eyes in shock.

"Who?" Draik demanded.

"I don't know… but we have to hurry, before she does anything else!" Leon said, taking off again. The two turned down several more corridors until they came to the area Leon had described. They made it a few minutes, and there they saw Right, free of her binds, sitting on the bleeding body of an Alakazam.

Leon recognized the body right away. "Hey, that's Telek; we saw him in the War Room!"

Right, who had been licking the blood off her paw, looked up and smiled at him. "Oh, hello. You should know that this was not originally part of my plan, but I had to thank my liberator in some way."

"Don't make excuses for yourself!" Draik snapped. "How could you?"

"A Thunder Wave to paralyze his body and keep him from screaming when I send a Thunder Arrow through him. That is how." Right smirked, though seeing a slightly hurt look on Draik's face, it dropped quickly. "I am sorry to have betrayed your trust. I have told you before, though, that I am a Nightmare, so I cannot be trusted. Besides, my brother means more to me than anyone ever has, or ever will."

With that, the Pichu leapt off the body and continued running down the corridor. Draik and Leon reacted instantly, taking off after her.

"Her brother means that much to her?" Draik muttered as they ran. "Yes, I suppose he would."

"Of course me means more to her, they're siblings. They've always been together." Leon stated.

"Sorry Leon, but you can't truly understand just how important their bond is." Draik said.

"…Actually, I can. I heard you two talking that night. I wasn't asleep." Leon explained.

"What?" Draik gasped.

"I'll explain later. We have to catch her!" Using Aqua Jet, the Buizel shot forward and passed Right just as they exited the building onto one of the connecting bridges outside. She stopped and swerved to the left, barely avoiding crashing into him. She moved again as Draik came up behind and slashed a Metal Claw at the place where she had been standing.

The Pichu ran forward a small distance and Draik followed. He shot a Flamethrower towards her, which she avoided with Quick Attack. Still using the move, she shot around him and hit his side hard enough to knock him into the low wall at the edge of the bridge. Right's body began charging electricity as she pointed her fingers at Draik.

"Thunder Arrow B…" Her voice faltered as she hesitating in firing the lethal blast at him. She didn't understand why, but she had no time to dwell on it before a powerful Water Gun blasted her away. The sudden attack threw off her concentration completely, and her Thunder Arrow shot off-course and into the night sky. A scream was heard as the legend attack made contact with one of the flying guards.

Right's eyes widened in shock. She had been told not to let her presence be known by any of the guards, and she had failed. "No…"

A Honchcrow, the struck Pokémon's partner, flew towards the bridge to investigate. Seeing the Pichu and connecting the type of attack to her, he shot towards her with an Aerial Ace. Right ducked as the Pokémon sailed over her, then she immediately turned and fired a Charge Beam, striking the Honchcrow in his wing, causing another scream. As he plummeted towards the ground below, Right turned to wink and stick her tongue out at the two three-stars in a childish expression.

"You had better go catch him. It is a long way down from here." Right said, before running towards the opposite side of the bridge and hurling herself off of it. When she neared the ground, she shot off a Charge Beam that crashed into the ground and caused enough recoil to push her up slightly and slow down her descent. She rolled as she hit the bottom and landed on all fours, completely unharmed.

While she did that, Leon took off towards where the guard had fallen. "I'll get him, you keep following her!" He called out, and then jumped off the side. He used Aqua Jet to shoot past the falling Pokémon, then stopped the attack and fell normally the rest of the way down.

Leon landed without any damage. "Well, glad I made that." He said to himself, then turned and shot a Water Gun towards the falling Honchcrow. The Pokémon was caught by the makeshift geyser, which steadily decreased in power as Leon lowered him to the ground.

"Are you-?" Leon started, but stopped as he saw the Honchcrow was already unconscious, but still alive. Leaving the guard for now, he took off underneath the bridge, using Aqua Jet to propel himself towards the area where Right had landed.

Draik, meanwhile, had used the same tactic as Right to get down, though with Flamethrower instead. When he landed, he heard Right cry out in delight and saw her running towards another Pokémon; a Pichu, and her twin brother.

Wasting no time, he shot forward with a burst of speed and swiped a Metal Claw at the pair. Though they were a little shocked at his fast movement, they still avoided it for the most part. However, the claw caught Right in her ear, nicking it and pulling the bandana off. The article of clothing fluttered to the ground, but Right picked it up and stared down at it before turning to smile at her brother.

"Perhaps we can switch now?" She asked him hopefully.

Left gave her an identical smile. "Sure. I have been Big Brother long enough. I will be Little Sister now."

The two jumped back to put a little distance between them, Draik and Leon, who had just arrived, as Left pulled off his bandana as well. The twins then proceeded to put them back on; this time, though, on the other ear, so Right wore her bandana on the left, and Left wore his on the right. Once they were securely tightened, the two Pichus looked just like the other had. Then they spoke.

"Sister, did you succeed with your part?" Right asked Left. The twins' voices sounded similar enough, but there was still a distinction between the two of them. Now though, Right's voice had a distinct masculine tone to it; it sounded just like Left's.

"I did. I was discovered, but I managed to fix that. I am sorry, brother." Left said in a more feminine tone, sounded just like Right's voice had sounded. The Pichu showed the small sphere as proof.

"Do not apologize. I made a similar mistake." Right said.

Left took notice of the small scratch on Right's now-exposed ear. "I will have to mimic that wound when we get home."

The other twin nodded. "Of course."

"What in the name of Arceus are you two doing?" Draik growled at them, utterly confused by the situation.

The one with the left-ear bandana smirked. "Every so often we switch roles so that we may take turns protecting each other. I am Big Brother Left now."

The one with the bandana on the right ear smiled. "And I am Little Sister Right. Thank you for taking care of my brother."

"We must go now, though. It will surely be only a matter of time before more Pokémon come." The new Left said.

"We also promised to be back before sunrise." The new Right added, taking hold of her twin's hand. "We will take our leave."

"No, you won't!" Draik said right before launching a Flamethrower at them. At the same time, Leon shot an Ice Beam and the twins gave off a blinding burst of light with Flash. When the smoke and light caused by the attacks cleared, the two Pichus were gone, escaping through the forest.

Leon and Draik stared at the spot in stunned silence before collapsing to the ground in defeat. "We are so dead…" Leon groaned.

_**~Memory~**_

"…_How long have we been in here?"_

"_I would guess a few hours. Do not worry though, no matter how long we will be here, I will protect you. As Big Brother, I have to protect you."_

"_But… I want to protect you. I want to be Big Brother, too."_

"…_We can't both be Big Brother. One of us must be Little Sister."_

"_But I want to protect you, just like you have protected me…"_

"…_Then we can take turns. I will be Big Brother and you will be Little Sister. Then we will switch, and I will be Little Sister, and you will be Big Brother. Shall we do that?"_

"_Yes, thank you."_

"_We are twins. No one will ever notice the difference…"_

**~Nightmare Castle~**

Thanks to their teleportation gems, it had taken only half an hour to the twins to get out of Crescent Moon territory and return to Nightmare Castle. Once they entered their room, they settled down in their nests and started laughing quietly with each other.

They didn't have to worry about anyone coming to see what they were doing; no one ever came into their room. The room reeked of blood, and that was usually enough to keep everyone else away. If one were to enter the room, though, they would just be able to make out large splashes of red on the black walls and floor. Luckily, there wasn't much else one would find; the only other things in the room were the two nests and a small chest in one corner of the room.

When it was just the two of them alone, they dropped the maturity slightly and acted a bit more like children. "So, what did you get us?" Left asked his sister.

His twin held up the ball she carried and pressed the button in the center, causing it to enlarge. "I think you will like it, Left. I felt a connection with it."

She pressed the button again, and the ball opened, a bright light emitting from it. The light quickly took the form of a Pokémon and faded, revealing what was inside; a little Azurill.

Left's face lit up further as he recognized him. "Merty! I played with him at Crescent Moon. He was a lot of fun; he got scared so easily."

"I am happy that you like it. We are going to have a lot of fun with this one." Right said, grinning maliciously as she noticed the Azurill had started kicking and struggling in his sleep. "Oh look, brother, he is having a nightmare."

"I bet it is his first one." Left nodded.

Merty suddenly awoke, gasping heavily, with a frightened look on his face. He looked in front of him to see the two Pichus smiling identical grins at him.

"Welcome to Nightmare Castle." Left said.

Merty's look of horror only grew at the sight of both twins. "R-Right?"

The two wordlessly agreed to spare him the confusion of explaining their role-switching. They just continued to grin unsettlingly at the Pokémon.

"W-Where's my brother?" Merty asked, unable to keep the fear out of his voice.

The twins looked at each other then walked over to either side of Merty. They then embraced the Azurill in some twisted form of cradling. "Your brother is not here, and you will never see him again." Left said, increasing the Azurill's terror.

"W-What?" He gasped.

"But you do not need him." Right said, holding his tighter. "You have us. We will love you."

"We love all of our toys." Left agreed. Merty felt his body tense up and go numb as weak currents of electricity ran through his body.

"Do not worry. It was just a little Thunder Wave." Right reassured him in a tone that was really not very reassuring.

"We wouldn't want you crying out for help." Left added. "You are our toy, and what else is there to do with toys but play?"

"We are going to have so much fun. We will play together!" Right squealed.

"Play together, until you break." Left added in a sinister tone. Merty would have started crying if he could.

Suddenly though, Merty's body was engulfed in a red light, and he disappeared back into the Pokéball. Left stared down at the ball with a wicked smirk.

"For now, though, no one must know you exist." Right opened up the little chest in the corner, and Left tossed the ball in. It landed among a dozen other spheres just like it as the top closed.

**~Author's Note~**

_Can you guess who Right's liberator is? It shouldn't be too hard. So, u__m… finished! We seem to have been forgetting to give credit for the OC's in the last few chapters, though. Oh well, you know who you are! Thanks!_

**By the way, you should know that this is the last chapter for a while where Right and Left will have a big focus. These next chapters will be centered more around Leon, Draik, and their friends, so the OC's will start having bigger roles.**

**And we've probably screwed up in our explanation of the parts of Crescent Moon Castle. And the basic laws of physics. Oh well, it's the Pokémon world, but if you know what those castle parts are called, we'd love to know.**

_Okay, I think that's it. Leave a review and tell us what you think. Bye now!_


	6. Aftermath

_Yeah, this took forever and we have no real excuse besides writer's block. FORGIVENESS!_

**Ether, put the cross down. Sorry for the wait, though. Hopefully, the next one won't take nearly as long.**

_FORGIVENESS!_

**Stop yelling! Roll the disclaimer!**

**Disclaimer: We own nothing except what we made up. I think you can tell what that is.**

**Chapter 6: Aftermath**

**~Nightmare Castle~**

The following morning, the Pokémon of Nightmare were starting the day with training. At the moment, the two-stars were the ones currently battling against each other, giving the three-stars time to themselves as they waited for their turn.

On the castle borders, underneath a tree, were Annara and her partner, Damien. He was a shiny Sneasel, though he possessed no head feather. They sat next to each other in a somewhat awkward silence, before the Sneasel finally decided to break it.

"So Annara, what were you doing last night?" Damien asked.

The Vulpix's eyes widened in shock slightly as she turned to face him. "How did you know I was out?"

Damien shrugged casually. "I just woke up in the middle of the night and saw your bed was empty. I wasn't stalking you or anything, if that's what you were thinking."

That last sentence was said in a joking manner and was meant to get a laugh out of Annara. When the Vulpix showed no signs of finding it amusing, though, Damien sighed and asked in a more serious tone, "Really though, where were you?"

"I was just out getting some fresh air; I didn't leave the castle grounds." Annara answered.

Damien got the feeling that Annara wasn't telling the entire truth, but he decided to drop it for now. He gave his partner a friendly smile and decided to change the subject. "So, Field-Exploration Week is coming up. You excited?"

Annara just shrugged. "I suppose, at least it will give us the chance to get away from Nightmare's watchful eye for a while."

Field-Exploration Week was somewhat of a nickname; it had no given name, so that was what everyone referred to it as. It was an event that happened once every three months, and lasted a full week. There were different time periods for two-stars and three-stars; one-stars were too young and four and five-stars were able to leave whenever they wanted. During this time, the teams were grouped up by the five-star Pokémon, each group consisting of three teams, and they were allowed to leave the castle and go out into the territory to visit relatives or simply explore. It was a tradition both Crescent Moon and Nightmare shared, and the events happened at the same time to prevent one side from taking advantage of the absence of Pokémon in the other.

"Why are you never happy? This is a special event that only happens four times a year." Damien said.

"Just because I'm not jumping for joy doesn't mean I'm not happy about it." Annara said. "I already told you that I'm glad to leave the castle for a week."

"Well then, it starts in two days. We should probably go ask some of the higher-ups to give us a group, don't you think?" Damien asked.

Annara nodded and stood up. "Sure, I think I see Frusia over there."

The Vulpix walked over to the five-star loner, with Damien following close behind her.

Frusia noticed the two and smiled down at them. "Annara, Damien, it's not time for the three-stars' training yet. Did you need something?"

"Field-Exploration Week is two days from now." Damien said. "We need a group to go with."

"Ah yes, I had almost forgotten. Let's see, now…" The Arcanine looked over the three-stars that were currently outside of the castle, before settling on two of them. "Tsurugi! Levitas! Come over here!"

The Snivy and Pikachu looked towards Frusia as she called their names, before walking over to her, Damien, and Annara. "Yes, Frusia?" Tsurugi asked.

"You two haven't got a group for Field-Exploration Week yet, have you?" Frusia asked them.

"Well, we've got one other team coming with us, but we do still need another." Levitas said. For some reason, the Pikachu had an odd look on his face, but the other Pokémon couldn't figure out what it was.

"Good, then how about we add Damien and Annara to your group to complete it?" Frusia asked.

Tsurugi nodded. "That would be fine with us."

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind travelling with Damien and Annara." Levitas added.

"Glad you're so open about it." Damien said, smiling brightly at the Pikachu, who returned the smile. The two were some of the nicest Pokémon at Nightmare, and they could be considered pretty good friends with each other.

"Let's go, then. We'll just have to wait for training to start, now." Annara said, already walking away. Tsurugi followed without a word, while Damien and Levitas shrugged and went after their partners.

When they were a little further away, Damien asked Levitas, "You said you were already with one more team, didn't you? Who?"

Levitas frowned and looked down at the ground, the same uncomfortable expression on his face. "The other team is… Right and Left."

"What?" Damien asked, stopping in shock. Annara and Tsurugi did as well, turning to face their partners.

"We asked Talin to group us. Noctis was with him, and he recommended them for some reason. Talin decided to go with it, and you can't argue with Talin once he's made a decision about that sort of thing." Levitas explained.

"Perhaps we should have considered that before asking." Tsurugi said. "Though I can't help but wonder what Noctis had in mind when he brought them up. He knows that they aren't well-liked by most Pokémon, us included."

Annara shrugged. "Well, I suppose some group has to take them…"

"So you mean we'll be travelling with the kid psychopaths for an entire week?" Damien asked in dismay.

"Yeah." Levitas answered. "Of all the days for Right to come back from wherever she was…"

"There's nothing we can do about it, though." Annara said.

"Annara's right. All we can do if finish training and prepare for the trip." Tsurugi agreed.

"Okay." Levitas and Damien nodded. With that, the two teams split up and went their separate ways.

**~Crescent Moon Castle~**

At Crescent Moon, the Pokémon had found out what had occurred the previous night, and a group of them were discussing it and repairing the damage. While this was going on, Leon and Draik were in the hall outside the War Room, waiting for someone to come out and speak with them.

While Draik looked extremely sour about the whole situation, Leon was panicking. "Aw man, Flare is going to kill us. Put in charge of watching a dangerous prisoner, and we completely screw it up! She is going to kill us. Screw type disadvantages, she is going to murder us!"

When Leon noticed that his partner wasn't saying anything, he stopped panicking and gave him a concerned look. "Hey, are you okay?"

"We let her get away, what do you think?" Draik growled.

Leon's self-confidence dropped another five levels at his friend's words. "Is… is that it? That's all that's bothering you?"

Draik gave a loud sigh. "No, what's bothering me is how easily Right got away. She escaped even though we were watching her, and we could barely land one attack to try and stop her. We might as well have not been trying!"

"Are you sure it was Right? Looks like it could have been her brother." Leon asked, though Draik just shot him a harsh glare. "What? It's a valid question."

"Yeah well, doesn't matter if it was Right or Left. Both of them still got away." Draik said.

Leon cast a sullen gaze down at the ground, before a thought struck him and he looked back up at Draik. "Are you upset because you were starting to trust her?"

"What?" The Charmeleon gasped, surprised at the question.

"I know what went on at night. She told you things and acted like a model prisoner." Leon said. "You were beginning to think she wasn't all bad, weren't you?"

Draik gave the Buizel a long, hard stare before closing his eyes and sighing again. "When she told me her story, I felt sympathy for her. A child shouldn't be put through that sort of stuff. I can't even blame her for turning out the way she did."

"...If it makes you feel better, I think she can still be helped." Leon said.

"You really think that? Why?" Draik asked.

"She hesitated with that Thunder Arrow last night, didn't she?" Leon asked. "Doesn't that mean she still feels something towards you?"

"I guess, but does that really mean anything?" Draik asked.

"Well, I believe that no one is truly past redemption. Not even them." Leon smiled slightly.

Draik chuckled softly. "I thought I was supposed to be the idealistic one."

"Well, when you're acting pessimistic, who else is going to fill the role?" Leon laughed.

The two friends smiled and high-fived each other, laughing happily. The moment was ruined when the door to the War Room burst open and Flare jumped out in front of the unfortunate three-star team.

To the lower-rank Pokémon, the sight before them was terrifying. The Infernape had always been larger than them, but now she seemed to loom over them with a menacing look and feel. Her intimidating appearance was increased by the flames on her head, which were bursting out at three times their normal size and were dark violet instead of the usual orange and red. A dark aura almost seemed to be emanating from her body, and she smiled down at them with a grin so terrifying and insanity-filled it could have scared the Pichu twins.

Leon had backed away and was holding onto Draik's arm very tightly, while the Charmeleon was paralyzed with fear. Aurora flew out of the room and settled down next to her partner without batting an eye.

"Here we go again. Try not to scar them too badly, Flare." The Togekiss said, oddly calm despite the situation.

"Too late…" Draik managed to say, though one look from Flare shut him up again.

"So, now that we've got everything else straightened out, it's your turn." Flare said. Even her voice sounded deeper in her anger. "You've got a lot to answer for…"

"Flare, please, it's not entirely their fault." Aurora tried reasoning before this got too out of hand. "Perhaps we shouldn't have relied on only a three-star team without any other precautions."

"Aurora, don't help them." Flare told her. "A whole lot happened last night without me knowing, I'm angry, and I want to punish someone."

The Infernape turned to glare at Leon and Draik again, frightening them both. "Do you know the full extent of the damages?"

"Um… Telek and Hale are dead, Kaze is injured, and Right escaped?" Draik guessed, going by what they had witnessed the previous night.

"Close, but not quite. Hale is dead, but Telek isn't." Flare said.

"What? But we saw-" Draik began.

"Somehow, the attack missed his heart." Aurora explained. "However, it did strike one of his lungs, and there was electricity all through his body. We managed to remove the electricity, but he's still in critical condition. We're amazed he's even still alive."

"You're also right about Kaze." Flare continued, referring to the Honchcrow guard. "His wing is so badly injured he may never fly again. Though he'll at least still live, we can't be sure about Telek…"

Flare's anger seemed to subside for a moment, though it quickly returned as she glared at them again. "Something has to be done about this! You knew how dangerous she was!"

"We know! We kept watch over her every night!" Draik cried.

"Then how'd she escape?" Flare demanded.

"I don't know, someone attacked us! The door opened and some powder attack hit me and knocked me out. When I came to, she was gone!" Draik said.

"Wait, you were attacked?" The Infernape asked. "So you weren't just careless?"

Draik looked annoyed at the accusation, but wisely chose not to say anything about it. "Yes, that's exactly what happened."

Aurora looked up at Flare. "Who would want to free her, though? Do you think we've got a spy from Nightmare here?"

Flare shrugged. "We have a team over at Nightmare Castle. I honestly wouldn't be too surprised if it turns out they've got one here, too."

Aurora nodded. "We'll need to remember to look into that."

"Yes, but first things first." Flare sighed as she looked back at Leon and Draik. "So, I guess it's not as much your fault as I thought it was."

"Does that mean you're not going to kill us?" Leon asked, still clinging onto Draik.

"Yeah, I won't kill you, but you still need some sort of punishment given all the damage." Flare said. "But what though? I would consider keeping you here during Field-Exploration Week, but you'll just find a way to sneak out, anyway."

"How do you know?" Leon asked.

"I've been a five-star for years. It wouldn't be the first time something like that's happened." Flare explained. "Alright, for now, you'll just have extra training and chores until you leave. When you come back, we'll see how I feel. Aurora's right, we have more important things to do than dealing with you two right now."

Flare turned around and started walking away. "Come on, Aurora. Let's go look into this spy problem we may have."

"I'll be right there." Aurora called, turning to the three-star team. "You two, go find Soru, Nina, Trey, and Ruru. I think they're still free. You can join them on your trip, okay?"

Leon and Draik brightened up instantly. "Thanks, Aurora." Draik said.

"Sure, though you should probably head to the training grounds after you confirm it with them. Bye." The Togekiss smiled, lifting herself into the air and taking off after her partner.

The two lower-ranked Pokémon stood there for a few seconds before Draik turned to Leon, glaring slightly. "Can you let go of me, now?"

"Huh?" Leon looked and saw that he was still holding onto the Charmeleon's arm. He immediately let go. "Ah! Heh, sorry."

Draik rolled his eyes. "Sure, whatever, let's just go find them."

Leon nodded, and the two Pokémon left the hallway to begin their search.

**~Author's Note~**

_Did you know Tsutarja's English name is Snivy?_

**I think everyone knew that.**

_Hush, you. Um, yeah, in case you haven't realized this, the next chapters will take place around the OC's in these two groups. The six from Nightmare, and the six from Crescent Moon._

**Yeah, I can't think of else anything to say. Just review.**


	7. Before the Trip

_Wow, an update *pokes update*! These are extremely rare for us, you know._

**Ether, stop goofing off and apologize to whatever readers we still have left.**

_Alright. Anyway, we are really sorry for taking so long to update. How long as it been?_

**Over three months…**

_Oh… Anyway, we're really sorry. We sort of lost interest for a while, but we're back now. I promise that the next update won't take nearly as long. Really…_

**Just get on with it.**

**Disclaimer: We. Own. Nothing. Is this even necessary? Ah, whatever.**

**Chapter 7: Before the Trip**

**~Crescent Moon Castle~**

"Alright, time to begin our next meeting!" Flare said as she bounded into another room, Aurora following behind her. The two went over to a table in the middle of the room, where a couple other teams waited.

Aurora glanced over the assembled Pokémon and frowned. "Is this it? You four are the only ones who showed up?" True to her question, there were only four other Pokémon, all five stars; an Aggron, Houndoom, Ninjask, and Banette.

The Banette shrugged casually. "Most of them are off on missions or training the lower-ranks. We're the only free ones." She said.

"Seriously, Ebony? I didn't think we were that busy." Flare said.

The Banette, Ebony, shrugged again. "Me neither, but… surprise."

"I wish Cole and Jackie could be here, but I suppose it's too risky at the moment." Flare said. "We'll have to make do with the six of us."

"By the way, how is Telek's condition?" The Houndoom asked.

"Not good, he's still in a terrible state." Aurora answered.

"Do you think he'll recover?" He asked her.

"What do you think?" The Ninjask asked, entering their conversation. "His left lung is all but useless, his heart is in danger of failing due to the residue electricity, and he's lost a lot of blood from his wound. Not even the nurses are healing his body fast enough. He's as good as dead!"

Aurora frowned slightly at the Ninjask's words. "Nygus-"

"No, Nygus is right." Flare interrupted, growing solemn. "It's very unlikely he'll survive."

"It's rather sad, really." The Aggron said. "Telek lost his partner only a few months ago, and now we're losing him, too, after such a short amount of time."

"I know, Cavern. I know." Flare nodded. "But that's why what we're here to discuss is so important. I spoke with the three-stars in charge of watching our prisoner, and they told me that her escape may have been assisted."

The Houndoom gave her a quizzical glance. "Another Nightmare member?"

"It's possible, Embrose, and our best guess at the moment." Flare said. "We're assuming it's a spy for now, so we have to catch him or her before they cause any more problems."

"And how do we plan on doing that?" Nygus asked. "Any ideas?"

"I've got one, if you're willing to hear it." A voice called out.

The six five-stars turned their heads to the doorway, where a Zoroark stood in the entrance. His eyes were closed, but there was a mischievous smirk on his face.

Flare glared at the newcomer. "Zephyr, what are you doing here? This meeting is for five-stars only."

Zephyr's smile only widened, and his eyes remained closed. "Well, considering that there are only six of you and you seem to be stuck for a solution, I decided I'd lend my support."

"Do you have any ideas on who it may be?" Ebony asked, hopeful for any leads.

The Zoroark chuckled quietly. "I've got my theory. What about you, though? Can any of you figure it out?"

"Are you going to give us any hints?" Flare asked sarcastically.

"Sure, I'd be happy to." The four-star grinned. "It's really quite simple. Our spy needs to be able to get around without attracting too much attention, right?"

"Yeah, that's right." Nygus agreed.

"But at the same time, they would need to be able to access most areas of the castle and not draw suspicion while doing so, along with other freedoms, such as, let's say, walking about at night." Zephyr continued.

"One-stars and two-stars are forbidden to be out past midnight, and three-stars need permission from higher members to do so." Cavern said. Everyone there knew this; he was just voicing the information.

"Correct. So, were any three-stars given permission to be out last night?" Zephyr asked.

"Not as far as we're aware, but we may need to ask the rest of the five-stars here later on." Aurora answered.

"Exactly, but until that's confirmed, our guesses are that either one of our three-stars snuck out last night, or-" His eyes opened ever so slightly, revealing bright amber irises as he spoke. "-It's someone higher up."

The Zoroark turned and began to walk away. "There, I believe I've given you enough help for you to figure the rest out. Good luck."

After Zephyr left, the group was quiet for a while before Nygus broke the silence. "I don't trust him."

"I don't either, Nygus, but you have to admit, he brings up a good point." Flare sighed. "So, it's likely a four or five-star, huh?"

"Or a three-star that snuck out, like he suggested." Embrose said. "It's not a far-fetched idea. We haven't had an attack for so long before now that our security has begun to slacken."

"Yeah well, dwelling on the possibilities for too long won't help us. We need an idea!" Nygus yelled.

"Well, obviously the six of us aren't going to come up with something anytime soon." Flare growled, growing impatient. She turned and started walking towards the exit. "Meeting adjourned, we'll come back later when more teams are free and get their thoughts on this. Until then, do your own thing."

Aurora sighed, but said nothing as she followed her partner out. When the two had left, the remaining four Pokémon turned to each other.

"I'm going to get two of the students to help with this and see if they notice anything." Ebony said. She turned to her Ninjask partner. "Nygus, meet me outside near the training grounds."

With that, the Ghost-type faded out of view and her partner flew quickly out of the door, leaving the last team alone. Soon, they left as well.

**~Crescent Moon Castle Grounds~**

Leon and Draik stepped out onto the castle grounds, the training area where three-stars were battling close by.

"So, we need to find Trey, Ruru, Soru, and Nina, right?" Leon asked.

Draik nodded. "Yeah, that's right. Looks like training's almost over though, so we should just wait until they're done. No point in joining now."

"Yeah, I guess you're- huh?" Leon stopped when he heard an excited voice call out his name. He looked to his right just in time to be bowled over by an overly-emotional Glaceon.

"Leon, I'm so glad you're alright! We were so, so worried when we heard what happened! You got called up by Flare and Aurora, right? How was it?" Gracie asked him in a hurry, and Leon wasn't even sure she had breathed once during her speech.

"I'm fine, Gracie, really." Leon assured the Glaceon. Kita then walked up to Gracie, took a hold of her scarf, and tugged on it, pulling her off of the Buizel.

"How many times have I told you not to tackle Pokémon when you see them?" The Furret scolded her partner.

"Uh… five, seven, possibly eleven times?" Gracie guessed, trying to remember.

Kita looked at her questionably before giving her the answer. "Twelve times."

"Oh." Gracie said, looking somewhat embarrassed. The look quickly gave way to a smile, however, as she turned to face Draik. "So, what happened? We don't know that much, but we did hear something about Right. Where is she?"

"Gone." Draik growled, a dark glare on his face. "She escaped last night."

Gracie and Kita looked shocked, then swapped glances with each other. "Do you think Right's the one who attacked Murtag?" Gracie asked.

"It's possible…" Kita nodded.

Draik's eyes widened at their words. "Wait, what about Murtag?"

Kita gave him a solemn look. "Last night, someone got into Murtag and Lisa's room, attacked Murtag, and took Merty."

"What?" Leon gasped, shocked. "Is he hurt?"

"No, not really, he was only paralyzed." Gracie said, her sadness evident in her tone of voice. "Of course, the physical pain's probably nothing compared to the emotion pain of having his brother pokénapped. He said the attacker was a Pichu…"

Leon nodded, while Draik, who seemed to be in thought, asked, "Where is he now?"

"The infirmary. Like Gracie said, he's not hurt, but better safe than sorry." Kita answered. "Lisa's with him."

"Uh huh, okay." Draik muttered.

"Excuse me, but Gracie, Kita, may I have a word with you two?" A voice asked. A Banette, Ebony, quickly appeared before them. "It's important."

"Okay, sure. What is it?" Gracie asked.

"We have to go some place private first." Nygus said, flying over to hover beside her partner. "We'll tell you when we get there."

"Alright. Hey Leon, Draik, you guys going to see Murtag now?" Kita asked the two three-stars.

"Yeah, we will, but after that we need to find Trey, Ruru, Soru, and Nina. Field Exploration Week's coming up soon." Leon answered.

"Oh yeah, it is, isn't it?" Gracie giggled. "You may see them at the infirmary. Training's almost over, so they may go visit him."

"Okay, we'll keep that in mind." Leon said. "Thanks!"

Gracie smiled brightly. "No problem! See you later!" With that, the two four-stars walked off, following their superiors.

Leon turned to Draik, who was still in thought. "Hey, Draik, you there? Hello, earth to Draik!"

Draik, surprised at being addressed, snapped out of his thoughts instantly. "Huh? Oh yeah, sure. Now come on, we have to go see Murtag, make sure he's okay."

Leon looked at his friend oddly. "What were you thinking about?"

Draik just smirked at the Buizel. "You'll see. Now c'mon, let's go!"

The Charmeleon turned and ran back into the building. His partner, still giving him a curious stare, followed behind.

**~Nightmare Castle~**

"Yay! Field Exploration Week is coming up in two days! Yay! Yay!" Nyx screamed out loud, half-flying, half-jumping through the halls with glee. Her partner, Fate, was behind her, hopping along at a much slower pace. She wasn't in any rush because the Natu actually looked at what was ahead of her, so she knew the Swablu would be stopping shortly.

True to Fate's prediction, Nyx, not looking where she was going, crashed into the back of something very hard and fell to the ground. When she recovered, she found herself looking up at the face of a very large and scary-looking (at least to Nyx, anyway) Tyranitar. She backed several feet away from the Pokémon.

The Tyranitar glared down at the Swablu as he quickly recognized her. "You! You're that two-star that landed my partner in the infirmary!"

Nyx was shaking like a leaf again by this point. "I'm sorry! Don't eat me- wait, who's your partner, again?"

"The Ambipom you shot with your Legend Attack a few days ago." The larger Pokémon's glare intensified.

Nyx was silent for a moment before it hit her. "Oh yeah, him! …Ahh! I'm sorry! Don't eat me!"

Fate finally caught up to her partner, who was back to cowering in fear again. "We're sorry for injuring your partner without authorization. We'll take whatever punishment you give us for our actions." She told the Tyranitar.

Nyx's eyes widened in fear at the thought of being punished. "Fate! I don't want to be punished. Punishment is bad!"

Fate eyed her friend calmly. "Nyx, we have to take responsibility for our actions."

"Those scary Pichus never do." Nyx muttered, sounding depressed.

"They're not two-stars who still have to listen to everything the five-stars say." Fate reminded her.

Nyx just sighed loudly. "Fine. Meanie."

The Tyranitar rolled his eyes at the two Pokémon and began looking around. His eyes fell on a certain room, and a vicious smile crossed his face. He turned back to the two-stars and said, "You see that room down at the end of the hall? Go clean it, then I'll put this behind us."

Nyx, looking past the Tyranitar at the room in question, gasped loudly. "But that's Right and Left's room!" She practically shrieked.

"So? They'll be leaving in two days anyway. You'll have plenty of time to clean afterwards." The Tyranitar said, chuckling darkly. Walking away from the two, he called out "Good luck," before disappearing around the corner.

"Ahh! See what you did, Fate!" Nyx yelled at her partner. "Now we're going to die!"

"Calm down. It's not that bad." Fate replied. "They'll be gone for Field Exploration Week in just two days. We can clean a room within a week."

"But they'll know someone was in their room when they get back!" Nyx cried.

"True, but they won't know it was us." Fate reminded her.

"Oh yeah. But they'll find out someway! I know they will! They're scary like that!" Nyx panicked.

"I promise that nothing will happen to you. If worst comes to worst, I'll just teleport us out. Okay?" Fate said.

"You promise?" Nyx asked.

"I promise." The Natu confirmed. "Feel better now?"

"I suppose so. I just wish we didn't have to miss Field Exploration Week for this." Nyx sighed.

"Nyx, you do realize that as two-stars, we don't leave for Field Exploration Week until after the three-stars come back, right?" Fate asked.

The Swablu was silent for a long while for exclaiming loudly, "Ah, pecha berries!"

Fate just closed her eyes and sighed before teleporting the two away.

**~Author's Note~**

**Yeah, yeah, the long wait and you get this short chapter that's probably not long enough to make up for the wait. Deal with it.**

_We're kind of lacking on Crescent Moon five-stars that we want to use, aren't we?_

**I suppose so.**

_Yeah, we're not sure which story will be updated next. Probably whichever one we get inspiration for. Please don't flame us over how long this took, though…_

**Just say goodbye already.**

_Okay. Bye…_


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